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Binance files a lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal
In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the company stated that the newspaper published “false and defamatory statements” about its compliance practices and its handling of transactions allegedly linked to Iran in an article dated February 23.
In that article, The Wall Street Journal reported that Binance had dismissed employees who reported funds moving through the exchange to sanctioned organizations. Binance rejected these allegations. The lawsuit states that the exchange did not fire employees for reporting compliance violations. Instead, the dismissals were related to alleged violations of internal data protection policies rather than retaliation, according to the filing.
“Binance unequivocally did not halt any compliance investigations,” a spokesperson for the exchange said. “But The Wall Street Journal continues to publish false information. As a result, we have filed a defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal.”
In a Wednesday report, the newspaper said that U.S. Department of Justice officials had interviewed individuals knowledgeable about the transactions while gathering evidence related to cryptocurrencies that passed through the platform. The report cited sources familiar with the matter. It remains unclear whether the agency is investigating potential wrongdoing by Binance itself or focusing solely on customers who used the exchange.
Binance responds
In a blog post published Wednesday, the exchange systematically rejected the claims made in the February Wall Street Journal article. The company stated that $1.7 billion in the transactions mentioned “did not originate on Binance and did not terminate on Binance,” but instead passed through several independent intermediaries. The “vast majority of the funds,” it said, had “no confirmed link to Iran.”
The newspaper wrote that the exchange’s internal investigators had identified cryptocurrency transfers from Chinese clients to wallets linked to Iranian financial networks. A significant portion of the funds — more than $1 billion — allegedly passed through Blessed Trust, a Hong Kong payment company that cooperated with the exchange.
Binance said its investigators obtained “immediate access” to the Blessed Trust account, which “was repeatedly extended, as confirmed by system logs.”
The company claims it identified suspicious activity through information from law enforcement agencies and its own internal investigation, after which it reported the activity and blocked the relevant accounts.
Earlier this month, the exchange told a U.S. Senate investigative committee that it had found no evidence of direct transactions between accounts on its platform and Iranian organizations.
“The truth is that Binance’s investigation continued and uncovered a complex network of financial operations across multiple jurisdictions, including Asia, the Middle East, and other regions,” a company spokesperson said. “Binance analyzed this complex activity, blocked the relevant accounts, and reported it to law enforcement.”
The company states that it is “fully cooperating with law enforcement” and employs more than 1,500 staff members in compliance and risk management — about 25% of its total global workforce.
Legal context
The lawsuit and investigation have once again drawn attention to Binance’s legal challenges.
In 2020, the company filed a lawsuit against Forbes over false allegations directed at the exchange. The lawsuit was withdrawn several months later.
In 2023, Binance pleaded guilty to violating U.S. anti-money-laundering and sanctions laws and agreed to pay a $4.3 billion fine. The company’s founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao also pleaded guilty to a related charge and served four months in prison, before receiving a presidential pardon in October 2025.
Under the settlement agreement, Binance operates under the supervision of a U.S.-appointed compliance monitor. This oversight authority has also requested documents related to transactions connected to Iran.
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