“There are many indicators that the DoJ will file or has filed criminal charges related to Binance,” John Reed Stark wrote on Twitter.
Stark emphasized: The SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have made significant demands on Binance that, in his view, already resemble criminal charges. These claims are intertwined with allegations related to fraud, consumer fraud, obstruction of justice and money laundering.
The claims go beyond money laundering to include hiding financial assets. According to the former official, this paves the way for a criminal prosecution of Binance by the Justice Department.
Given the seriousness of the situation, Stark suggested that the SEC might cooperate with criminal prosecutors and FBI agents. A former regulator official drew parallels between Binance and the now-bankrupt FTX crypto-exchange.
Earlier, John Reed Stark wrote that cryptocurrency asset owners should abandon their investments because the storm in the U.S. crypto industry is just beginning.
After a list of 13 complaints against Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao from the SEC, the exchange’s U.S. division has already delisted ten trading pairs;
The SEC has also filed a lawsuit against U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. According to the lawsuit, Coinbase has been operating in the country as an unregistered broker since 2019 and trading in cryptocurrencies that are securities;
The U.S. division of cryptocurrency exchange Binance hired a lawyer who worked for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from 2009 to 2014. George Canellos led a team of lawyers specializing in litigation and arbitration to work on the regulator’s lawsuit. He previously served four and a half years as director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement and oversaw major cases.