The French authorities have expanded an investigation into Binance, investigating an alleged money laundering, tax fraud and other crimes at the Crypto Exchange from 2019 to 2024, according to a report from Tuesday of Reuters.
Binance denied allegations, saying to Coindesk in a statement sent by e-mail that she “vigorously fights all the accusations brought against him”.
The investigation, which was opened by Junalco, the division of the Paris prosecutor’s office which manages economic and financial crimes, implies alleged offenses which took place in France as well as the broader European Union (EU). The French authorities began to investigate Binance in June 2023 for “aggravated money laundering” and the “illegal” supply of crypto trading services before having received the regulatory approval of the AMF, the French financial regulator, in 2022.
“Binance is deeply disappointed to learn that [JUNALCO] made the decision to refer this question, which has several years, to the French judicial power for a more in-depth investigation, “added the spokesperson.
At the time, the news broke out of the initial investigation in 2023, the CEO of Changpeng “CZ” Zhao qualified “Fud” reports on social networks and reaffirmed Binance’s commitment to his presence in France , that Zhao called the “flagship center of exchange in Europe. “”
Last April, Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison in the United States for having omitted to implement an adequate diet to know your client (KYC) and an anti-flowage diet (AML) in Binance, violating the bank Secrecy Act (BSA). Binance also pleaded guilty to having violated BSA and sanctions laws, and agreed to pay $ 4.3 billion in fines and penalties to settle charges.
As part of Zhao’s plea with American prosecutors, he agreed to resign from CEO of Binance. The exchange has since named Richard Teng, an old regulator, as CEO. Since Tung’s takeover of the exchange, Binance has declared that it had intensified its efforts of conformity, increasing the workforce and increasing its expenses by almost 40% from one year to the next.
