Binance Allowed Millions Through Problematic Accounts Post-US Settlement: Financial Times

In recent findings, Binance reportedly allowed substantial amounts of money to flow through accounts flagged for suspicious activities, even after agreeing to strengthen its compliance measures as part of a $4.3 billion settlement with US authorities in 2023, according to an investigation by the Financial Times (FT).

Key Takeaways:

The Financial Times revealed that Binance processed large sums from suspicious accounts following its 2023 US settlement.
Some transactions were linked to networks associated with Iran and Hizbollah.
These revelations raise concerns about Binance’s compliance efforts after the settlement.

The FT's investigation, based on an analysis of internal documents, indicates that accounts marked with serious red flags continued to conduct trades well past Binance's plea agreement with the US Justice Department in November 2023.

The leaked information covers transactions from 2021 to 2025 and highlights weaknesses in enforcement despite Binance's public promises for more stringent oversight.

Binance Let Hundreds of Millions Flow Through Suspicous Accounts After US Settlement: FT

Giant Transactions Linked to Suspicion

Among the investigations highlighted by the FT, one account was registered to a resident of a Venezuelan slum, which moved around $93 million through Binance over four years. This account was linked to a network later accused by US authorities of secretly transferring money for Iran and Hizbollah.

Another troubling account, owned by a 25-year-old Venezuelan woman, processed over $177 million in cryptocurrency in two years. This account changed its linked banking details a staggering 647 times in just 14 months, using nearly 500 different accounts across several countries.

Overall, the FT analyzed data from 13 suspicious accounts that together managed $1.7 billion in transactions. Alarmingly, about $144 million of this activity occurred after the 2023 settlement, casting doubt on the effectiveness of Binance's compliance actions post-plea.

Stefan Cassella, a former US federal prosecutor, noted that the transactions resembled the operations typical of an unlicensed money transmitting business.

Inexplicable Login Activities and Links to Terrorism

The investigation also revealed instances of seemingly impossible login activities that went unnoticed. For instance, one account associated with a Venezuelan bank employee showed logins from Caracas in the afternoon, followed by access from Osaka, Japan, early the next morning—indicating potential account compromise or coordinated misuse.

Several accounts received funds in Tether's USDT stablecoin from wallets that had been frozen by Israeli authorities for anti-terrorism reasons. Many of these transactions traced back to wallets linked to Tawfiq Al-Law, a Syrian national accused of handling money for Hizbollah and Iranian-backed Houthi groups.

Related accounts were seized by Israel in 2023, and the US Treasury imposed sanctions on Al-Law in 2024, emphasizing the serious nature of these transactions.

Binance Stands by Its Compliance Measures

In response to the FT's findings, Binance stated that it upholds strict compliance measures and a zero-tolerance policy towards illicit activities, pointing to its systems designed to flag and investigate suspicious transactions.

These findings emerge amid growing concerns over Binance's governance, especially following the pardon of founder Changpeng Zhao by President Donald Trump in October for anti-money laundering violations. This pardon, along with increasing business relationships between the Trump family and Binance-related entities, has made regulatory oversight more challenging according to former intelligence officials.

Despite the implementation of independent monitors in 2024, much of the activity described in the FT's analysis reportedly continued even after monitoring began.