The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed 13 charges against Binance, the world's largest centralized cryptocurrency exchange platform by trading volume, and its billionaire chief executive officer Changpeng Zhao, which CZ dismissed after news broke out.

Binance, its subsidiary Binance.US, and their CEO CZ are accused of offering unregistered securities to the public through Binance Coin (BNB), the cryptocurrency issued by the exchange, and BUSD, the stablecoin associated with Binance. The lawsuit claims that the staking service provided by the exchange violates securities law.

The major regulator of Wall Street, which initiated the legal action in a federal court in the District of Columbia, has alleged that Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange, mixed together customer funds. Furthermore, it claimed that the CEO of Binance was covertly controlling its U.S. counterpart, Binance.US, and an entity owned by Zhao, the CEO. This entity was found responsible for inflating the trading volume of Binance.US.

According to the complaint, Binance established Binance.US as a protective shield for Zhao and the main company. This arrangement allowed them to manipulate, delay, and resolve law enforcement targets, thus safeguarding Binance's interests.

Additionally, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accused Zhao, the CEO of Binance, of instructing the development of an evasion plan for high-net-worth customers. This plan involved using a virtual private network (VPN) to enable the exchange to hide the U.S. location of its customers while submitting compliance documents. The intention was to conceal the customers' country origin.

"Through thirteen charges, we allege that Zhao and Binance entities engaged in an extensive web of deception, conflicts of interest, lack of disclosure, and calculated evasion of the law," SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a statement released Monday, adding that "the public should beware of investing any of their hard-earned assets with or on these unlawful platforms."

Meanwhile, SEC Division of Enforcement director Gurbir S. Grewal alleged that "Zhao and the Binance entities not only knew the rules of the road, but they also consciously chose to evade them and put their customers and investors at risk – all in an effort to maximize their own profits."

Following the reports, CZ dismissed the lawsuit and tweeted the number 4, which, in his own words, means "Ignore FUD, fake news, attacks, etc."

The Binance CEO said, "Our team is all standing by, ensuring systems are stable, including withdrawals, and deposits," assuring its customers that the company "will issue a response once we see the complaint. Haven't seen it yet. Media gets the info before we do."

The lawsuit filed by the SEC adds to allegations presented March of this year by the US regulator Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which claimed Binance CZ knowingly offered unregistered crypto derivatives products in the US.

The allegations presented by the SEC in the lawsuit resemble the complaint filed by the CFTC.

BNB took a hit from the latest lawsuit filed against Binance after the news broke.

The native token of Binance saw an 8.16% loss and was trading in the red zone at $280.44 over the past 24 hours with a 24-hour volume of $766,296,687 as of 12:29 p.m. ET on Monday, based on the latest data from CoinMarketCap.

Zhao Changpeng, founder and chief executive of Binance
Reuters
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