Binance CEO Richard Teng took to social media on Tuesday to assault what he referred to as “inaccurate reporting” by the Wall Road Journal concerning investigators on the crypto alternate uncovering $1.7 billion in digital property transferring to Iranian entities.
In a Tuesday X put up, Teng said the report, printed on Monday, contained “defamatory claims,” together with a letter from Binance’s authorized staff “demanding quick corrections and a full retraction of those false statements.”
“Your Article is fake, critically deceptive to your readers, and defamatory of our shopper,” stated the letter to WSJ editor-in-chief Emma Tucker from legal professionals at Withers Bergman. “Our shopper has written to you instantly in search of correction of the foremost issues of great concern and we name upon you to behave responsibly, and to take away your Article pending this correction, thus probably avoiding the necessity for any additional motion.”
The article, by reporters Patricia Kowsmann, Angus Berwick, and Ben Foldy, claimed that Binance executives fired inside investigators who reported the alternate facilitated $1 billion in crypto to a “community funding Iran-backed terror teams.”
A New York Instances article published the identical day made related claims, reporting that the investigators, 4 of whom had been fired or suspended, had discovered “$1.7 billion had flowed from two Binance accounts to Iranian entities with hyperlinks to terrorist teams, a attainable violation of worldwide sanctions.”
Associated: Trump crypto firm says ‘coordinated assault’ on stablecoin failed
In keeping with Binance’s authorized staff, the WSJ reporters didn’t mirror the crypto alternate’s responses to questions for the article, claiming that the publication had an “agenda already set.” Teng referred followers to a Sunday weblog put up on the alternate’s compliance program.
Fortune printed an analogous report on Feb. 13 making claims about violations of Iranian sanctions and Binance firing 5 staff concerned within the investigation. The crypto alternate and Teng additionally pushed again in opposition to the report, calling the claims “categorically false.”
Former CEO will get nearer to Trump-backed firm after pardon
Final week, former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, who preceded Teng, spoke at a crypto discussion board organized by World Liberty Monetary, an organization backed by US President Donald Trump and his sons. Reviews from the occasion said Zhao introduced that Binance.US, the separate US entity of the crypto alternate, aimed to “do far more enterprise within the US.”
Zhao served 4 months in jail following a 2023 settlement with US authorities, by which he stepped down as CEO and agreed to plead responsible to at least one rely associated to Binance not implementing an efficient Anti-Cash Laundering program. The alternate paid $4.3 billion as a part of the deal, and Trump later issued a presidential pardon for Zhao.
Journal: IronClaw rivals OpenClaw, Olas launches bots for Polymarket — AI Eye
