Islamic State, al-Qaida, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas used Binance to move and disguise funds and to help bankroll operations prior to the 7 October attack in Israel. Prosecutors found that Binance knowingly allowed its exchange to act as a conduit enabling extremist organisations to shift funds, evade scrutiny and frustrate investigations. Changpeng Zhao, Binance's founder and chief executive, pleaded guilty to money laundering, entered prison, and Binance paid a record $4.3bn penalty for facilitating terrorist financing. Families of US citizens killed on 7 October sued Binance in a class-action accusing the company of pitching itself to terrorist organisations. President Trump later pardoned Zhao.
"When Islamic State needed to move and disguise its money, it turned, US prosecutors said in 2023, to the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange: Binance. So too did al-Qaida, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas, which used the platform to help bankroll its operations in the years leading up to the 7 October attack in Israel. Binance was not accused of directly financing these groups, but prosecutors found that it knowingly allowed its exchange to function as a conduit enabling extremist organisations to shift funds, evade scrutiny"
"By 2024, the self-styled king of crypto had fallen from grace, pleading guilty to money laundering charges and entering prison, while Binance agreed to pay a record $4.3bn penalty for its role in facilitating terrorist financing. The case was hailed as a rare victory for regulators willing to take on the industry's biggest players and for victims of the violence linked to those financial flows."
Read at www.theguardian.com
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