Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao is being recommended by the Brazilian Congressional Committee to be indicted along with Binance’s General Director Guilherme Haddad Nazar and Latin America Institutional Relations Director Daniel Mangebeira.
The charges for which they are recommending on the indictment of the three Binance executive involves committing fraudulent management activities, operating a financial institution without proper authorization, and a crime against the country’s financial system. While the committee can put forward names of the individuals they feel should be indicted, no concrete steps can be taken until the Brazilian police get involved in this matter.
In response to the accusations made against the exchange, a spokesperson for the firm told a news outlet that: “Binance has remained committed and collaborative with the commission seeking a constructive debate on the industry’s challenges in the interest of users and benefit of society overall. We strongly reject the exposure of our users or employees with baseless accusations of bad practices and the attempts to make Binance a target”.
“As a responsible industry leader, Binance remains committed to helping the industry grow sustainably and furthering its security, which includes close collaboration with law enforcement around the world and in Brazil to detect suspicious activities and fight cybercrimes and illicit activities. Binance has an industry-leading global compliance program and investigations team with hundreds of employees across the globe and continues actively collaborating with authorities worldwide to thwart bad actors and keep the ecosystem more secure.”
This is not the first time that Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, has seen its name being dragged into the media for the right reasons. In June of this year, the SEC filed 13 charges against Binance CEO CZ. The charges against him included:” operating unregistered exchanges, broker-dealers, and clearing agencies; misrepresenting trading controls and oversight on the Binance.US platform; and the unregistered offer and sale of securities.”
The exchange has also closed shop in many countries due to regulatory pressure. The notable countries where Binance has stopped providing services include Canada, Singapore, and the Netherlands. Most recently Binance has announced that they are exiting the Russian market as well.
It remains to be seen how Binance will be able to navigate these charges against them and whether or not the crypto market’s confidence in the Binance exchange will be shaken if the firm is indeed found guilty of any of the crimes they are being accused of committing.
