Breaking: SEC Cites “Mass Exodus” At Binance In A Fresh Filing

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has submitted a new filing to support its motion to dig deeper into the operations of Binance Exchange and its affiliated subsidiaries. 

Request for Expedited Inspection

Citing a number of reasons for its unwavering stance to check all of its boxes in its bid to gather all evidence it requires in its Discovery phase in the ongoing lawsuit, the regulator hammered on the mass exodus from the trading platform as a development that might hamper its intended depositions. With this exodus, the SEC is now praying the court for an expedited inspection of the trading platform.

Recall that Binance.US’s CEO Brian Schroder left the company as reported by Coingape earlier. While there has been a number of permutations and assumptions surrounding this exit, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao has debunked the Fear, Uncertainty and Doubts (FUD) surrounding it, noting that the exits were earned and will not disrupt the operational capabilities of the firm.

Now, the regulator is asking for certain information about customers’ deposits. It is worthy of note that BAM, the company behind Binance.US, is yet to consent to the request of the SEC to gain access to its technological infrastructure and software amongst other areas.

According to the SEC, “BAM insists that this Court, like the SEC, should accept packaged counsel narratives, carefully drafted declarations, and small curated sets of documents regarding control of BAM’s customers’ assets, and that any lingering concerns are ‘much ado about nothing.'”

Binance has been faced with enforcement action from the U.S. regulator for a number of charges including violating securities laws and operating as an unregistered exchange, broker, and clearing agency. Noteworthy, this latest Monday filing further underscores previous accusations against the global cryptocurrency exchange about failure to produce documents requested by regulators. 

Binance Might be Stonewalling Discovery

A few days ago, the SEC accused Binance and CZ of refusing to provide any information sought about the custody, security, and the availability of US customer assets in what appears as an attempt to stonewall the entire discovery process. 

Markedly, the regulator is attempting to find out whether BAM customers’ assets are not being controlled by CZ.

So far, “BAM has produced only approximately 220 documents, many of which relate to reporting otherwise required under the Consent Order, and many that consist of unintelligible screenshots and documents without dates or signatures.”