A federal court in Alabama has granted a motion to dismiss a 2024 complaint filed against Binance, its separate US entity Binance.US and former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao over allegations that the cryptocurrency exchange facilitated transferring funds to terrorist groups.
In a Wednesday order, US District Court for the Middle District of Alabama Magistrate Judge Chad Bryan granted a motion filed by Zhao requesting that significant portions of the complaint be dismissed. The complaint, filed in February 2024, alleged that the three defendants “violated, and may be continuing to violate, the Anti-Terrorism Act” by facilitating the transfer of funds to Hamas.
While Bryan granted the motion to dismiss, he also ordered that the group of plaintiffs submit a second amended complaint no later than April 10 or potentially face “the prospect of a total or partial dismissal.”
“The underlying harm here is serious; the allegation that the defendants are implicated is serious; the potential liability the plaintiffs seek to impose is serious; and the weight upon the court is serious,” said Bryan. “The operative pleading thus must demonstrate a commensurate level of seriousness before the action will be permitted to proceed.”
Source: PACER
In a Thursday statement following the ruling, Binance said it represented “full and complete legal victory.”
A judge in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York last week granted a dismissal for “lack of personal jurisdiction” in a similar case against the company. However, US District Judge Jeannette Vargas acknowledged that another court in the district had ruled that allegations of “widespread, intentional circumvention of anti-terror financing regulations” from Binance had been sufficient to survive a motion to dismiss in a different case.
“Sanctions compliance and terrorism financing are serious matters of law – they require evidence, legal rigour, and due process,” said Binance general counsel Eleanor Hughes. “Courts have now examined these claims on two separate occasions and found them to be without merit.”
Related: Binance says US Senate Iran probe is based on ‘defamatory’ reports
“While the Court has stayed discovery, this case is not closed,” said Judge Vargas in a Wednesday order regarding Binance’s New York case. “Moreover, this Court retains the inherent authority to determine if counsel and the parties are abiding by their preservation obligations.”
Binance under media, congressional scrutiny over Iran
Amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, many media outlets reported that Binance fired employees who reported the company had facilitated more than $1 billion in crypto transactions to entities connected to the country, leading to a probe by the US Senate.
Binance has largely denied the claims and has filed a defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal over its reporting of a Justice Department probe into Iran’s alleged use of the exchange to avoid sanctions.
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