Compass Investments

– Relatives of approximately 300 US citizens killed or injured in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel have initiated a lawsuit alleging that Binance facilitated the transfer of over a billion dollars in cryptocurrency to Hamas and other sub-sanctioned entities.

The lawsuit, filed Nov. 24 in federal court in North Dakota, says Binance positioned itself for terrorist organizations, drug traffickers and tax evaders as invulnerable to the laws and regulations of any power, while ignoring vendor warnings about compliance and failing to properly vet suspicious transactions.

The families are seeking damages under a 2016 U.S. law that authorizes victims of terrorism to sue foreign entities in United States courts.

According to the 284-page document, Binance continued to provide brokerage services in the Gaza Strip until January 2025.

The plaintiffs insist that the exchange knowingly facilitated the transfer of at least fifty million dollars to Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and others after the events of October 7.

It wasn’t a compliance lapse; it was a business model, The New York Times quoted attorney Jonathan Misner, who represents some of the more than 70 families named in the lawsuit, as saying.

He said Binance purposefully created mechanisms “designed to evade oversight, including out-of-network transfers and relaxed monitoring. More news:

In a statement provided to TheStreet Roundtable, Binance representatives said they could not comment on ongoing litigation, but denied the allegations, stating:

“Binance has been made aware of the filing of a complaint in U.S. federal court. We cannot comment on any pending proceedings. As a global crypto platform, we are fully compliant with internationally recognized sanctions laws. In recent years, Binance has undertaken a major overhaul of our compliance, anti-money laundering and sanctions control systems.

The spokesperson emphasized that, according to an independent review, “less than 0.02% ” of the platform’s 2,025 flows are linked to illegal activity.

They also added that Binance has invested “hundreds of millions of dollars” in compliance and has increased its sanctions and AML compliance staff to more than 1,280 people.

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The verdict comes a month after U.S. President Donald Trump granted clemency to Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who pleaded guilty in November 2023 to violating the Bank Secrecy Act.