TechFlow reported, according to CoinDesk, that Rostin Behnam, Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said at a press conference on Tuesday that Binance's actions "undermined the foundation of safe and sound financial markets," as the CFTC imposed a $1.35 billion penalty on the company—the largest fine in the agency’s history.
Rostin Behnam stated that internal communications involving Binance’s Chief Commercial Officer and others demonstrated that Binance was aware its platform was being used to facilitate criminal activities, including terrorist financing, yet chose to turn a blind eye in the name of profit. Binance and its leadership attempted to deceive and indoctrinate their employees and customers, building a cult-like following based on circumventing their own compliance controls to maximize corporate profits above all else.
In addition, Caroline Pham said that, aside from penalties against Binance and Zhao Changpeng, if a federal judge approves the proposed settlement, Samuel Lim, Binance’s former Chief Compliance Officer, will also pay a $1.5 million fine and is barred from serving as an unregistered futures commission merchant or operating any illegal cryptocurrency derivatives platform. Pham noted this marks the first time the CFTC has held a compliance executive personally accountable.
Earlier today, it was reported that Binance agreed to pay a total of $4.3 billion in fines, including $3.4 billion to the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and $968 million to the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
