By Michael Scott
The world-leading crypto exchange Binance is battling charges leveled by victims of the Hamas attack on October 7 for knowingly facilitating the financing of two terrorist organizations. The victims of the massacre orchestrated on Israel soil allege Binance provided the material support necessary to access the financial support needed by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The victims filed a complaint in the Middle District’s Court in Alabama Northern Division alleging the crypto exchange founded by Changpeng Zhao facilitated the execution of financial transactions whose recipients were Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
The nine plaintiffs seek damages from Binance, subsidiaries, and affiliates, alleging the platform violated the Antiterrorism Act and the Alien Tort Statute provisions. The complaint drags along former chief executive Zhao for aiding and abetting resources to two organizations designated by the US Treasury’s Bureau Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The plaintiffs submitted that Binance knowingly offered material support to the terrorist groups.
The lead attorney, David Schoen, representing the nine plaintiffs, submitted that the largest global exchange for virtual currency intentionally supported Hamas materially by facilitating the funds’ movement.
Schoen revealed that Binance deployed sophisticated manipulations that concealed the terrorists’ transactions. He added that while the federal government had already secured the criminal convictions for the exchange and former chief, the present complaint sought to hold Binance directly accountable to the October 7 victims.
Binance Honors $4.368 Billion Settlement
The complaint lodged by the victims of the October 7 inhumane massacre by the Gaza-based terrorist groups adds to the list of legal actions undertaken against Binance.
Back in November, the Richard Teng-led crypto exchange settled over $4 billion in penalties to the US FinCEN alongside the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the criminal investigation department of the IRS for contravening the US anti-money-laundering laws and sanctions.
The US Treasury labeled the $3.4 billion paid to FinCEN alongside the $0.968 billion to the OFAC the largest settlement ever. The briefing justified the historic settlement by attributing it to the failure of Binance to avert and report suspicious crypto-based transactions benefiting the terrorist organizations.
The criminal charges behind the multi-billion-dollar settlement by Binance identify potential beneficiaries as Hamas’s Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades. Also recognized as beneficiaries of the Binance-aided transactions include Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and al-Qaeda.
Also, Binance failed to avert crypto trades orchestrated by US users to beneficiaries within the sanctioned territories of Iran, Syria, Crimea, and North Korea.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen lamented that Binance disregarded the legal obligations to avoid disrupting its pursuit of profit. She added that the willful failures permitted the flow of funds to terrorists, child abusers, and cyber-criminals through the Binance platform.
A scrutiny of the transactions by Coindesk in 2021 revealed that Hamas directly benefited from $100,000 worth of Bitcoin since the year began. Notably, during Operation Guardian around May, the transactions became frequent and larger in loads.
Binance Subject to Further Attacks for Aiding Terrorist Financing
A lead counsel at the Goldfeder $ Terry law firm, Ben Schlager, revealed that the illicit remittances that Binance knowingly facilitated offered the necessary material support for Hamas. The funding helped Hamas to enable their tactical and military resources besides the acquisition capacity to execute the October 7 massacre.
Schlager indicated that Hamas utilized the funding received via Binance in training and executing terrorist activities. The list of terrorist activities includes the sophisticated attack that claims over a thousand lives of civilians in Israel.
Chief executive Arsen Ostrovsky of the International Legal Forum (ILF) revealed its engagement with the National Jewish Advocacy Center to assist the October 7 victims. The attorney accused Binance of helping the terrorist entities to fund-raise for the atrocities.
The plaintiffs in the case are relatives and spouses of the victims who seek damages for trauma endured in the news of losing their spouses.