Binance Founder Changpeng Zhao Sued in Over Alleged ‘Assistance’ to Hamas

Families of Americans killed, injured or taken hostage in Hamas’s October, 7 2023 attack on Israel have accused Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao and his cryptocurrency exchange of helping militant groups move millions of dollars, according to the Financial Times.

In a complaint filed in a U.S. federal court on Monday, the plaintiffs allege that Zhao and Binance knowingly provided “substantial assistance” to Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards by helping them conceal the flow of funds, the FT reported.

The lawsuit centers on transactions allegedly routed through Binance since the October 7 attack. Lawyers for the families say more than $50 million in transactions to accounts linked to the militant groups on public blockchains were facilitated by Binance over that period, according to the newspaper.

The plaintiffs allege that wallets operated by Binance itself “sent the equivalent of more than $300 million to designated wallets on the blockchain before the … attacks and more than $115 million after,” the paper said.

Binance allowed “terrorists and other criminals” to “deposit and shuffle enormous sums on the exchange with impunity,” attorneys for the plaintiffs claim. “To this day, there is no indication that Binance has meaningfully altered its core business model,” they allege.

In November 2023, Binance agreed to pay more than $4.3 billion to settle U.S. charges of violating anti-money laundering and sanctions laws, while Zhao pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to protect against money laundering and was sentenced to four months in prison. He was subsequently pardoned by President Trump earlier this month.