Binace accused of financing Hamas terrorists

The families of those killed in the Hamas terrorist attacks last October have filed a lawsuit against the largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance for allegedly facilitating terrorism. The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Manhattan, marks a turning point in legal history.

on January 31, victims of the Hamas terrorist group filed a class action complaint against Binance in the New York District Court. The plaintiffs claim that the platform provided «substantial assistance» to the terrorists and must now compensate for the damage. Bloomberg writes about it. One of the plaintiffs is Judith Ranan, who survived the horrific experience of being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.

The lawsuit claims that Binance aided and abetted foreign terrorist organizations and provided them with material support by allowing them to conduct transactions on its platform. «Binance processed numerous transactions related to Hamas and Palestinian terrorist groups between 2017 and mid-2023, providing a secret funding tool that the platform intentionally concealed from U.S. regulators ,» the victims said.

The plaintiffs also recalled the November agreement between the crypto exchange and US regulators. Back then, the platform pleaded guilty to violating sanctions and anti-money laundering laws and agreed to pay a $ 4.3 billion fine. Failure to comply with the rules allowed groups such as Hamas to circumvent US banking regulations.

«The Department of Justice (DOJ) and U.S. regulators have disclosed that for years, Binance […] knowingly allowed unlawful actors, including Hamas and other terrorist groups, to circumvent U.S. laws and regulatory restrictions related to terrorist financing,» the complaint says.

As a reminder, after Hamas invaded Israel, Binance froze the addresses associated with terrorists at the request of Israeli law enforcement. The police of the affected country demanded that the platform block about 100 accounts and hand over information on 200 accounts.

Tether, the issuer of the most popular USDT stablecoin on the market, also helped the Israeli authorities. In October, the company froze several dozen addresses with more than $ 800,000 in total.