Get €3000Binance Under Fire As Senator Sends Letters to DOJ, Treasury On $1.7B Iran Flows
Highlights
- U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal has sent letters to the U.S. DOJ and Treasury.
- In the letters, he inquired about monitoring Binance's compliance.
- He also cited the exchange's connection to the Iran-linked illicit crypto transfers of $1.4 billion.
The U.S. Department of Justice and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network have received letters from U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal. The senator asked them to disclose information about the current situation with monitors of Binance and its compliance activities.
Senator Seeks Update On Probe Over Binance’s Iran-Linked Crypto Flows
The request was made via letters submitted on Friday, April 17. The senator is questioning oversight of the regulatory commitments of the exchange. “I am writing with concern over mounting allegations of dangerously lax anti-money laundering prevention by Binance,” Blumenthal wrote to both the agencies, per Fortune report.
Senator Blumenthal’s probe focuses on the effectiveness and current position of two independent monitors at Binance. For context, these monitors were set under the settlement of Binance with the U.S. authorities in 2023.
At the time, the settlement came after accusations regarding failures in anti-money laundering and sanctions controls. Further, it led to a fine of $4.3 billion.
In the resolution, the monitors started working in 2024, reporting to the DOJ and FinCEN individually. They are to determine whether Binance is undertaking the necessary compliance improvements.
Meanwhile, Senator Blumenthal’s request comes at a time when there is renewed interest in reported crypto transactions involving Iran related entities. It has been reported on multiple occasions that over $1 billion of digital assets might have been transferred to wallets linked to Iran via Binance.
Such claims have led lawmakers to demand answers to whether the internal safeguards within the exchange are working as expected. However, previously, Binance had refuted Iran-linked allegations.
Limited Public Access To Monitoring Reports
The letters of Blumenthal also indicate that there are minimal updates to the public about the appointed monitors. Hence, the statement questions their responsibility to detect and report possible misconduct.
However, the DOJ has not issued statements on the matter. In addition, Frances McLeod who was chosen by the DOJ, and Sharon Cohen Levin, appointed by FinCEN haven’t responded yet.
Independent of this, Binance has been reported to have sacked members of its own internal investigative team. These employees had alerted them about the existence of Iran-related transactions.
However, the company said that the staffing decisions were not based on the findings and it said its compliance framework is strong. In addition, Binance sued the Wall Street Journal over a report on Iran sanctions.
The DOJ and FinCEN officials have been silent on the issue of commenting on the senator’s question.
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