Binance’s motion over ‘misleading’ SEC statements denied by judge.

A motion that could have prevented the financial regulator from issuing public statements related to the Binance.US, Binance Holdings Limited and CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao lawsuit against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been denied by a federal judge. Judge Amy Berman Jackson, in her June 26 ruling for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, suggested that it was not necessary for the court to intervene regarding the basis for the motion filed by parties affiliated with Binance and Binance.US. On June 21, the legal team had filed a motion alleging that the SEC issued misleading statements over the securities lawsuit that had the potential of “tainting the jury pool” and introducing “unwarranted confusion into the marketplace”.

Judge Jackson said, “While all of the lawyers in this case should adhere to their ethical obligations at all times, it is not apparent that Court intervention to reiterate that point is needed at this time, or that it is necessary or appropriate for the Court to get involved in wordsmithing the parties’ press releases. Nor is it clear that the agency’s public relations efforts to date will materially affect proceedings in this case.”

Binance’s and Binance.US’ legal teams had made the complaint following a June 17 press release from the SEC’s Enforcement Director Gurbir Grewal, claiming that CZ and Binance could “commingle customer assets or divert customer assets as they please”. The SEC statements were denied by Binance and Binance.US, with the legal teams claiming they were “misleading”.

The lawsuit against Binance, Binance.US and CZ, filed by the SEC on June 5, alleges that the exchanges offered unregistered securities to U.S. customers and that Binance failed to register as an exchange or a broker-dealer clearing agency. The federal regulator had originally aimed to freeze all Binance.US assets through a motion, but a compromise agreement was reached in which only the exchange’s employees would have access to client funds.

• Chancer presale 35% sold out as prediction market tokens turn green.
• Crypto exchange updates for June 26, 2023.
• Lawmaker requests info from Treasury and SEC on crypto market structure bill.

Despite the ongoing U.S. legal proceedings, Binance has continued its global operations, launching a regulated crypto platform in Kazakhstan on June 20. However, on June 23, the Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority ordered the exchange to stop offering crypto exchange and custody wallet services, and Binance has reportedly withdrawn its application with Austria’s financial regulatory authority.