Binance, CZ, Jimmy Butler, Other Crypto Influencers Face New $1B Lawsuit From 2 Law Firms

Just a few days after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) slapped Binance with a heavily-publicized case, two law firms worked together to file a new $1 billion lawsuit against the world's largest centralized cryptocurrency exchange platform by trading volume, its CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Jimmy Butler and other crypto influencers over claims of allegedly marketing unregistered securities.

Moskowitz Law Firm and Boies Schiller Flexner, the same law firms that previously teamed up to bring a class action against the now-bankrupt crypto broker Voyager, filed the lawsuit on March 31 in the Southern District of Florida.

The law firms represent two plaintiffs from Florida and a person from California – all of them lost money trading coins that Binance and other crypto influencers promoted.

"If we win on the unregistered securities issue, there will be no question that Binance and the influencers are liable," Adam Moskowitz, founding and managing partner of the Moskowitz Law Firm, said.

"It's ironic that FTX was going to be the savior of Voyager until their fraud was uncovered, and now Binance is supposed to be the next savior. Given the cases in bankruptcy, this may be the last chance for the victims to seek any recovery from their losses from crypto fraud," he added.

The $1 billion lawsuit primarily targets the American subsidiary of Binance CEX, the exchange's three major international entities, CZ, Miami Heat superstar Jimmy Butler, Ben Armstrong (more popularly known as BitBoy Crypto), and Graham Stephan, who has over 4 million YouTube subscribers.

It is worth noting that this case filed against Binance and others, lies on the basic allegation that the exchange was trading unregistered securities and social media influencers paid by the crypto exchange unlawfully promoted these assets and instruments.

"This is a classic example of a centralized exchange, which is promoting the sale of an unregistered security," the complaint alleged.

Reacting to the CFTC's lawsuit against Binance, Zhao said, "Today, the CFTC filed an unexpected and disappointing civil complaint, despite our working cooperatively with the CFTC for over two years."

"Upon an initial review, the complaint appears to contain an incomplete recitation of facts, and we do not agree with the characterization of many of the issues alleged in the complaint," he added in the blog. He further said that the CEX "does not trade for profit or 'manipulate' the market under any circumstances," calling the lawsuit "unexpected and disappointing."

BNB, the cryptocurrency coin that powers the BNB Chain ecosystem, saw a 0.05% gain over the past 24 hours and was trading in the green zone at $309.81 with a 24-hour volume of $718,180,106, according to the latest data from CoinMarketCap.