US court fines Binance crypto exchange for $2.7 billion, former director, in turn, will pay $150 million fine

A U.S. court has issued a decision regarding the cryptocurrency exchange Binance and its former CEO Changpeng Zhao in a money laundering case initiated based on a complaint from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), as reported by Reuters citing the agency's statement.

According to the court ruling, Zhao will pay $150 million to the CFTC, and Binance will pay $2.7 billion. The Northern District Court of Illinois had previously approved a settlement agreement and issued a permanent injunction, civil monetary penalty, and equitable relief against Zhao and Binance, as reported by the CFTC. All claims by the agency were settled at the end of November.

The court imposed a civil monetary penalty of $150 million on Zhao and required Binance to reimburse $1.35 billion for unlawful transaction commissions and pay an additional $1.35 billion as a penalty. In November, Zhao resigned and admitted guilt for violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws as part of the agreement that concluded the years-long investigation into the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange.

Binance's leadership acknowledged responsibility for "historical criminal violations," including breaching U.S. anti-money laundering and sanctions laws, as well as failing to report over 100,000 suspicious transactions involving organizations recognized as terrorist entities in the U.S. Additionally, Binance did not report transactions involving the administrations of websites trading materials with cruel treatment of children and was one of the largest recipients of ransomware proceeds.