US court approves order for Binance to pay $2.7 bln to CFTC
The CFTC said in a statement that as a result, Binance will pay $2.7 billion and Zhao will pay $150 million.
The CFTC said in a statement that the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois had approved the previously announced settlement and entered a consent decree of equitable relief, a civil monetary penalty, and a permanent injunction against Zhao and Binance. Late November saw the conclusion of the settlement.
According to the CFTC, the court ordered Binance to forfeit $1.35 billion in improperly obtained transaction fees and pay a $1.35 billion fine to the agency, in addition to imposing a $150 million civil penalty against Zhao.
In November, as part of a deal that ended a protracted investigation into the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Zhao resigned and entered a guilty plea to violating US anti-money laundering rules.
Resolving the business’s accountability “for historical, criminal compliance violations, and allowing our company to turn the page,” according to Binance at the time.
Authorities claim that Binance violated US anti-money laundering and sanctions rules and neglected to disclose over 100,000 suspicious transactions with entities the US designated as terrorist organizations.
The exchange failed to report transactions with websites devoted to selling child sexual abuse material and was one of the largest recipients of ransomware proceeds, they added. Below video published by Reuters
Criminal case
In late November, the Department of Justice, the Treasury Department, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced a $4.3 billion corporate settlement that set a record. Zhao, after years of investigation by federal officials, entered a guilty plea to charges of violating sanctions and anti-money laundering.
In addition, Zhao last week resigned from his position as chairman of the board of directors for Binance.US, thereby decreasing his power at Binance.making his involvement in the American side of the trade “purely economic.”