Binance Under Scrutiny: $144 Million in Suspicious Payments Exposed

Crypto exchange Binance has come under intense scrutiny for processing $144 million in suspicious payments despite a recent plea deal where it paid over $4 billion for previously relaxed anti-money laundering standards.

According to a Financial Times report, the investigation revealed that Binance continued to engage in practices that were supposed to end following the plea deal, including allowing accounts linked to individuals with insufficient identification.

Notably, 13 specific Binance accounts were highlighted, with one account tied to a Brazilian man receiving over $10 million from addresses linked to a terrorist organization, while another account associated with a Venezuelan woman had over $100 million in transactions and changed its banking details 647 times in just 14 months.

Binance responded to these allegations by calling them grotesquely sensationalist. This situation follows earlier reports indicating that Binance and other exchanges were still operating under insufficient compliance standards.

Furthermore, former CEO Changpeng CZ Zhao was recently pardoned by President Trump for his role in these relaxed standards, a move that has faced accusations of corruption amidst allegations of Binance's dealings with a company tied to the Trump family.

Meanwhile, the crypto market continues to see significant volatility, with Bitcoin nearing $90,000 but analysts predicting that the fourth quarter might be the worst since 2018, reflecting broader uncertainties in the market.