Manhattan Prosecutors Lead Iran Sanctions Probe Into Binance, Bloomberg Reports
The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York is examining whether the exchange knowingly permitted trading that breached US sanctions on Iran, according to Bloomberg.
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Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are leading an investigation into whether Binance knowingly allowed trades that violated US sanctions on Iran, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, adding detail to a Justice Department inquiry that first surfaced in March.
The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York is handling the matter, with the Justice Department's Criminal Division in Washington also taking part, Bloomberg said, attributing the account to people familiar with the situation. Neither office has confirmed the investigation.
At issue is whether the exchange permitted activity that breached the sanctions regime the US maintains against Iran. An investigation does not establish wrongdoing, and it may end without any charges being filed.
Asked about the report, a Binance spokesperson pointed to the company's compliance posture. "We maintain a zero-tolerance policy for sanctions violations," the spokesperson told Cointelegraph. "We fully cooperate with law enforcement, and we remain committed to rooting out and shutting down bad actors." The statement did not say whether the company is aware of the reported probe.
The inquiry became public in March, when the Wall Street Journal reported that the DOJ was looking into whether Iran had used Binance to evade US sanctions. That report drew on company documents and people familiar with the matter, and it noted at the time that it was unclear whether investigators were focused on Binance itself, on its users, or on both.
Binance told Cointelegraph in March that it was unaware of any DOJ investigation.
Sanctions compliance has become a central fault line for crypto exchanges that serve customers worldwide. US rules generally prohibit companies under American jurisdiction from facilitating transactions that benefit sanctioned states or entities, whether directly or through intermediaries, and violations can carry civil penalties as well as criminal exposure.
The SDNY, based in lower Manhattan, is among the Justice Department's most active offices for financial-crime cases, and its involvement signals the matter is being treated as a priority. The Criminal Division's participation suggests coordination between the two offices rather than a single-track inquiry.
The March reporting and Tuesday's account are consistent on one point: the exact target of the investigation has never been stated publicly. Binance has not been charged, and no court filings describing the scope of the probe have been made public.
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