France launches money laundering probe into crypto giant Binance

French prosecutors announced on Friday they had opened an investigation into Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, over allegations of unlawful commercial practices, including "aggravated money laundering".

Published: 17 June 2023 10:28 CEST

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance faces a legal investigation in France after allegations that it engaged in illegal commercial practices. Photo by Justin SULLIVAN / Getty Images via AFP

The probe, led by the Paris prosecutor’s office, will look into allegations the French arm of Binance traded illegally in digital assets as well as a separate charge of “aggravated money laundering”, a statement said.

Le Monde newspaper, which first reported the probe, said the company is suspected of failing to respect obligations to ensure its clients were not using the platform for money laundering.

The news follows a move from the US Securities and Exchange Commission which announced this month that it had charged the crypto giant with securities law violations that it said amounted to “an extensive web of deception” and “calculated evasion of the law”.

Binance said afterwards that it was halting US dollar deposits and encouraged clients to withdraw their dollars by early next week.

Referring to the French allegations, the company said on Twitter that it had had an “on-site visit last week by the relevant authorities”.

“Binance invests considerable time and resources into cooperating with law enforcement globally. We abide by all laws in France, just as we do in every other market we operate,” it added.

The platform, created in Shanghai in 2017, has cornered much of the crypto-trading market, turning its globe-trotting founder Changpeng Zhao into a billionaire.

But it has long been accused of facilitating money laundering, setting up complex structures to avoid regulation, and busting sanctions – claims it denies.

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The French Jewish community, the third largest in the world, has for months been on edge in the face of a growing number of attacks and desecrations of memorials.

“National police in Rouen neutralised early this morning an armed individual who clearly wanted to set fire to the city’s synagogue,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Police responded at 6.45 am to reports of “fire near the synagogue”, a police source said.

A source close to the case told AFP the man “was armed with a knife and an iron bar, he approached police, who fired. The individual died”.

“It is not only the Jewish community that is affected. It is the entire city of Rouen that is bruised and in shock,” Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol wrote on X.

He made clear there were no other victims other than the attacker.

Two separate investigations have been opened, one into the fire at the synagogue and another into the circumstances of the death of the individual killed by the police, Rouen prosecutors said.

Such an investigation by France’s police inspectorate general is automatic whenever an individual is killed by the police.

The man threatened a police officer with a knife and the latter used his service weapon, said the Rouen prosecutor.

The dead man was not immediately identified, a police source said.

Asked by AFP, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office said that it is currently assessing whether it will take up the case.

France has the largest Jewish community of any country after Israel and the United States, as well as Europe’s largest Muslim community.

There have been tensions in France in the wake of the October 7th attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel, followed by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Red hand graffiti was painted onto France’s Holocaust Memorial earlier this week, prompted anger including from President Emmanuel Macron who condemned “odious anti-Semitism”.

“Attempting to burn a synagogue is an attempt to intimidate all Jews. Once again, there is an attempt to impose a climate of terror on the Jews of our country. Combating anti-Semitism means defending the Republic,” Yonathan Arfi, the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF). wrote on X.

France was hit from 2015 by a spate of Islamist attacks that also hit Jewish targets. There have been isolated attacks in recent months and France’s security alert remains at its highest level.