• Binance CEO accuses WSJ of defamation over Iran sanctions report Two major news outlets published similar reports on Monday claiming that Binance had fired or suspended employees involved in an investigation into crypto going to Iranian entities. • Cointelegraph in your social feed Binance CEO Richard Teng took to social media on Tuesday to attack what he called “inaccurate reporting” by the Wall Street Journal regarding investigators at the crypto exchange uncovering $1.7 billion in digital assets moving to Iranian entities. • In a Tuesday X post, Tengsaidthe report, published on Monday, contained “defamatory claims,” including a letter from Binance’s legal team “demanding immediate corrections and a full retraction of these false statements.” “Your Article is false, seriously misleading to your readers, and defamatory of our client,” said the letter to WSJ editor-in-chief Emma Tucker from lawyers at Withers Bergman. • “Our client has written to you directly seeking correction of the major matters of significant concern and we call upon you to act responsibly, and to remove your Article pending this correction, thus potentially avoiding the need for any further action.” The article, by reporters Patricia Kowsmann, Angus Berwick, and Ben Foldy,claimedthat Binance executives fired internal investigators who reported the exchange facilitated $1 billion in crypto to a “network funding Iran-backed terror groups.” A New York Times articlepublishedthe same day made similar claims, reporting that the investigators, four of whom were fired or suspended, had found “$1.7 billion had flowed from two Binance accounts to Iranian entities with links to terrorist groups, a possible violation of global sanctions.” Related:Trump crypto company says ‘coordinated attack’ on stablecoin failed According to Binance’s legal team, the WSJ reporters failed to reflect the crypto exchange’s responses to questions for the article, claiming that the publication had an “agenda already set.” Tengreferr

Article Summaries:

  • Binance CEO Richard Teng has publicly accused the Wall Street Journal of defamation over a Monday article that alleged the exchange’s internal investigators uncovered $1.7 billion in crypto transfers to Iranian entities linked to terrorism. In a post on X, Teng said the report was “inaccurate” and that Binance’s legal team had sent a letter demanding corrections and a retraction. The WSJ piece, written by Kowsmann, Berwick and Foldy, claimed Binance fired several investigators who had found the alleged sanctions‑violating flows. Teng’s letter, backed by Withers Bergman, calls the article “false” and urges the paper to remove it pending correction. The dispute comes amid a U.S. Senate inquiry led by Senator Richard Blumenthal into Binance’s dealings with Hong Kong entities tied to the transfers.

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