French prosecutors are starting a new investigation into Binance, over claims of money laundering and drug trafficking.
The French probe was triggered by a single complain by a user who allegedly lost money after investing via the platform, because the information they said had been incorrectly communicated to them. The user also complained that the platform had been trading without obtaining the necessary approvals.
According to reports by Reuters, Binance is accused of breaking these regulations in not just France, but at least 10 European Union countries between 2021 and 2025, with allegations ranging from Anti-Money Laundering violations to failing to register as a securities operations.
In less than 24 hours after these allegations were exposed, a Binance spokesperson came forward to deny all the accusations and explained that all these false claims were just old news. Binance added that they would vigorously fight any charges made against it.
"Binance is deeply disappointed to learn that JUNALCO, a Paris division of the French Public Prosecutor's office, has taken the decision to refer this matter, which is several years old, to the French judiciary for further investigation."
The investigation, which was opened by JUNALCO, the division of the Paris public prosecutor's office that handles economic and financial crime, involves alleged offenses that took place in France as well as the broader European Union.
French authorities first began investigating Binance in June 2023 for aggravated money laundering and the illegal provision of crypto trading services before it received regulatory approval from the AMF, the French financial regulator, in 2022.
During that time, Binance's founder CZ called the news "FUD"-a derogatory term used in crypto to describe something as fake news.
But the French authorities are not the first person to have made such a claim on Binance. Many other countries have also called out the sketchy business model of Binance and called the exchange out for blantantly flaunting the law.
When the U.S prosecutors were conducting a similar probe on the exchange company's CEO ChangPeng Zhaojust last year, it also called out the company for adopting a "Wild West" model that welcomed criminals, and did not report more than 100,000 suspicious transactions with designated terrorist groups.
Just a few months ago, Australia's corporate watchdog said it sued Binance's local derivatives business, alleging that its retail customers had been denied consumer protections after being misclassified as wholesale clients.
But Binance claims that since then the company has already made many changes to retify its mistakes and beef up its regulatory loopholes. The exchange states that since last year, the exchange has since ramped up its anti-money laundering (AML) and compliance, including implementing the global regulator's standards for AML and Know Your Customers (KYC) and had improved employee training.
By November of last year, the company has increased its compliance team headcount to 645 full-timers, as part of its intensified commitment to regulatory adherence and ongoing transformation since its settlement with the US government in 2023.
The investigation in France follows an earlier preliminary probe initiated in June 2023, when Paris authorities investigated Binance over allegations of illegal client solicitation and aggravated money laundering.
Brian
Alex
Kikyo
Hui Xin