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The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed yet another document in its lawsuit against Binance. US, saying that investor funds are at risk.
In a filing filed on June 5, regulators allege that the defendants, including Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao and Binance Holdings Ltd., “have enriched themselves by billions of US dollars, putting investors’ assets at significant risk.”
It further states that the Defendants made “deliberate efforts” to circumvent U.S. regulatory oversight by providing securities-related services to U.S. users.
“[Это] jeopardizes the security of billions of dollars of US investor capital and puts it at the mercy of Binance and Zhao.”
A CNBC report claims the figure given by the SEC is as high as $2.2 billion.
The filing provides an example of billions of dollars of client funds from both Binance platforms being “mixed” in an account managed by a “Zhao-controlled entity,” which it identified as Merit Peak Limited.
The funds were then transferred to a third party “apparently in connection” with the purchase and sale of cryptocurrency assets.
Related: SEC’s Gensler claims ‘parallels’ between Binance and FTX, but no one has sued
According to regulators, the agreement gave and continues to give Zhao “freedom” of billions of escrowed assets on the Binance platform. US “without oversight or control to ensure adequate asset protection.”
At the time of writing Binance. US said that user funds on the platform “remain safe” amid SEC attempts to freeze assets.
On June 6, U.S. regulators filed a restraining order petition against Binance due to mishandling of user funds and transactions in unregistered securities. An asset freeze was one of the requested actions included in the petition.
The latest SEC lawsuit against Binance, as well as its lawsuit against Coinbase, resulted in the regulator labeling at least 67 different cryptocurrencies as securities. This affects over $100 billion worth of tokens in the market.