TLDR
- Richard Teng, CEO of Binance, has accused the Wall Street Journal of publishing defamatory content following allegations that the platform terminated investigators who discovered $1.7 billion in transfers to Iranian-linked organizations.
- Multiple major publications including WSJ, New York Times, and Fortune reported that Binance dismissed or suspended compliance personnel who identified potential sanctions breaches.
- The exchange maintains that the employees in question left voluntarily and denies terminating anyone for reporting compliance issues, stating internal audits revealed no sanctions law violations.
- Senator Richard Blumenthal has initiated a formal investigation into Binance regarding the purported sanctions violations.
- Changpeng Zhao, the exchange’s former leader who recently received a Trump pardon, announced at a cryptocurrency conference that Binance.US plans to grow its American presence.
Binance’s chief executive Richard Teng launched a strong defense Tuesday, branding the Wall Street Journal’s coverage as defamatory following a published piece alleging the cryptocurrency platform dismissed workers who identified approximately $1 billion in transactions connected to Iranian organizations.
In a statement shared on X, Teng characterized the journalism as “inaccurate” and revealed a formal communication from Binance’s attorneys at Withers Bergman addressed to WSJ’s editor-in-chief Emma Tucker. The correspondence insisted on a complete retraction and prompt correction of statements described as “false and defamatory.”
The Wall Street Journal’s piece, released Monday, claimed that Binance’s internal investigators discovered financial flows to “a network funding Iran-backed terror groups.” According to the report, the platform subsequently shut down the inquiry and terminated the personnel conducting it.
The New York Times released comparable coverage on the same date, asserting that $1.7 billion moved from two Binance-linked accounts to Iranian organizations with terrorist connections. Fortune had previously released similar content on February 13, likewise alleging sanctions breaches and staff terminations.
Binance issued rebuttals to all three publications. A representative for the company stated that an internal audit “did not find evidence of violations of applicable sanctions laws or regulations related to the transactions described.”
Binance Says Investigators Resigned, Not Fired
The exchange insists that four compliance employees at the center of the controversy departed on their own accord. Company officials assert these individuals were not terminated for flagging sanctions issues, and that suspicious transactions were properly identified and reported through established procedures.
“This is evidence that our controls are working, not the opposite,” a Binance spokesperson told CoinDesk.
The WSJ’s reporting, conversely, referenced internal Binance documentation and sources with knowledge of the platform’s operations who indicated that problematic behavior similar to what resulted in Binance’s 2023 Department of Justice agreement has persisted.
That 2023 agreement required Binance to remit $4.3 billion in penalties while founder Changpeng Zhao entered a guilty plea to one charge of failing to establish an adequate Anti-Money Laundering framework.
The WSJ additionally claimed that $1.7 billion moved from Chinese clients registered on Binance to Iran-supported organizations, including Yemen’s Houthi militants, during 2024 and 2025.
Senator Opens Formal Inquiry Into Binance
On Tuesday evening, Senator Richard Blumenthal transmitted correspondence to Teng initiating a formal investigation into the allegations. He demanded documentation concerning Binance’s transactions with two Hong Kong-based entities that investigators identified as originating points for transfers to Iran.
Spokesperson Rachel Conlan informed the New York Times that comprehensive findings would be delivered to the US Justice Department by February 25.
In a blog entry published Sunday, Binance stated that its “sanctions-related exposure is minimal” and described recent media coverage as “distorted” and derived from assertions by “disgruntled former employees.”
Changpeng Zhao, the platform’s previous CEO who obtained a presidential pardon from Donald Trump, addressed attendees at a cryptocurrency conference recently hosted by Trump-affiliated World Liberty Financial, revealing that Binance.US intends to broaden its operations within the United States.
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