US Judge Refuses to Freeze Binance US Assets at SEC Demand
US federal judge overseeing the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) case against Binance and Binance US, refused issue a court order to freeze the assets of the American trading platform. He said there was “absolutely no need” for such an order.
The SEC filed a lawsuit against Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) on June 5, bringing 13 charges of violating securities laws. Specifically, the SEC alleges that Binance was illegally offering unregistered securities, including its own BNB crypto asset, as well as deceiving customers about its trading controls and manipulating trading volumes.
In addition, the SEC accuses Binance and CZ of secretly allowing US clients to trade on the main Binance.com platform, even though it should not be available to US investors. According to the SEC, Binance and CZ also covered up the fact that billions of dollars of client assets were transferred to a third party account owned by CZ.
Binance US is the US affiliate of Binance, which launched its platform in 2019. The SEC claims that Binance US is not an independent company, but is controlled by Binance and CZ.
Judge John Koeltl denied the SEC’s request for a temporary restraining order on June 13, citing that the parties were already in talks for a possible settlement. He also demanded that Binance US submit to the court a list of business expenses and a report on the status of the exchange’s assets.
Representatives of Binance and BinanceUS did not comment on the judge’s decision. Earlier, CZ said that his company complies with all laws and is ready to cooperate with regulators.
John Cohen is a U.S. federal judge for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan. He was appointed to this position in 1994 by President Bill Clinton.
Cohen is best known for his decision in October 2006 to sentence human rights lawyer Lynne Stewart to 28 months in prison for providing financial assistance to her client, World Trade Center bomber Omar Abdel-Rahman.
In 2011, he tried the case of Raffaello Follieri, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy, fraud and money laundering in connection with the purchase of property from a Catholic church. Foglieri’s case received a lot of media attention because of his ties to celebrities, including former President Bill Clinton and 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain.
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