Crypto exchange Binance may have lied to lawmakers about its business practices and must be investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), according to a letter from two Senate Democrats, Elizabeth Warren and Chris Van Hollen. The letter, sent to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, follows the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) filing of a lawsuit against Binance and its CEO Changpeng CZ Zhao. The senators allege that the exchange may have made false statements, including whether its affiliate Binance.US was indeed a separate entity as Binance had claimed.
In March, Warren and Hollen called the exchange a hotbed of illegal financial activity, in a letter to CZ and Binance.US, requesting information on the entity’s financials and anti-money laundering measures. The senators wrote that while Binance had claimed Binance.US was a “fully independent entity,” in reality, CZ was controlling it as a “de facto subsidiary” of Binance.
This is a serious matter, the lawmakers reportedly wrote in Wednesday’s letter. Binance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.