The American division of Binance refuses to cooperate with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The regulator announced this in a statement to the court.
The department clarified that the company sent a total of 220 materials as part of the information disclosure procedure. However, many of them are “illegible screenshots and documents without dates or signatures.”
The SEC also indicated that the platform refused to provide key witnesses to testify.
“The Company responded to requests for relevant communications with categorical objections and refused to produce documents maintained in the ordinary course of its business, claiming that the documents did not exist, only for the SEC to later obtain [их] from other sources,” the statement said.
In addition, Binance.US continues to use the services of its partner, the Ceffu custodial service, representatives of the regulator noted. According to them, such actions violate past agreements between the parties banning the withdrawal of funds abroad.
On June 5, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao. The commission brought 13 charges, including the sale of unregistered securities. On June 6, the regulator sent a request to freeze the digital assets of the American division of the exchange.
On June 9, users of the platform lost the ability to deposit dollars, which caused sales from those wishing to withdraw funds in fiat. Against this background, a discount has formed on the platform in Bitcoin quotes paired with the dollar – the figure reached ~$2200 (7.3%).
On June 17, the SEC and Binance entered into an agreement regarding client funds in the United States. The platform resumed the withdrawal of assets, but the company warned that the situation could change.
In July, journalists reported the resignation of a number of Binance top managers, including Chief Strategy Officer Patrick Hillmann. At the same time, it became known about mass layoffs in the company; Zhao called previous reports of layoffs FUD.
At the beginning of September, the director for Eastern Europe, Gleb Kostarev, and the director for the CIS, Vladimir Smerkis, announced their departure from Binance. Both were also responsible for running the company’s business in the Russian Federation.
At the same time, it became known about the resignation of Binance.US CEO Brian Schroeder in parallel with massive layoffs. Following him, the head of the legal department, Krishna Juvvadi, and the head of the risk department, Sidney Majalya, left the branch, WSJ claims.
As a reminder, according to an internal exchange presentation, Binance.US’ growth opportunities are limited due to the business’s ties to Zhao and the current regulatory environment.
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