Crypto firm Binance hires heavy hitters in US lawsuit that targets Irish subsidiaries

Stephanie Brooker is a former director of the enforcement division at the US Department of Treasury’s financial crimes enforcement network and a former federal prosecutor. She’s a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

Other partners at the firm are also part of the team representing the Binance firms. Richard Grime spent nine years at the enforcement division of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), while Mary Beth Maloney has defended other clients in high-profile actions taken by US government agencies including the SEC.

Other lawyers have also been hired to represent Binance and its CEO and founder, Changpeng Zhao, in the case.

Binance and Mr Zhao have been sued by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for operating what the regulator alleges was an “illegal” exchange and a “sham” compliance programme.

Two Irish units of the crypto firm – Binance Holdings (IE) Limited and Binance (Services) Holdings Limited – are a core part of the legal action taken by the watchdog.

Mr Changpeng was a director of both Irish units until January this year, when Canadian Kaiser Ng, a Singapore-based senior vice president with Binance, was appointed as a director to the firms.

Former State Street executive Karl Long, who is based in Dublin, was appointed a director of the firms last year.

The CFTC has alleged that the Binance firms and Mr Zhao allegedly chose to knowingly disregard applicable provisions of the US Commodity and Exchange Act (CEA) while engaging in a calculated strategy of regulatory arbitrage to their commercial benefit.

“Binance’s reliance on a maze of corporate entities to operate the Binance platform is deliberate,” the watchdog claims in its lawsuit filed in Illinois. “It is designed to obscure the ownership, control and location of the Binance platform.”

“For years, Binance knew they were violating CFTC rules, working actively to both keep the money flowing and avoid compliance,” said CFTC chairman Rostin Behnam.