【特集】Cynthia Lummis calls for charges against Binance for alleged terrorism financing

Cynthia Lummis urges U.S. Justice Department to take action against Binance

Cynthia Lummis, a crypto proponent representing Wyoming in the United States Senate, has called on the U.S. Justice Department to consider charges against crypto exchange Binance. In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, Lummis urged Justice Department officials to “reach a charging decision on Binance” and “expeditiously conclude” investigations of allegedly illicit activities involving Tether. Lummis' call for action comes after the terrorist group Hamas launched an attack on Israel, which was suggested to have been supported by illicit crypto transactions.

Lummis and Hill emphasize the need to target bad actors, not the entire crypto industry

In their letter, Lummis and Arkansas Representative French Hill emphasized the importance of distinguishing between bad actors and the broader crypto industry. They urged the Justice Department to carefully evaluate the extent to which Binance and Tether are providing support to terrorism through violations of applicable sanctions laws and the Bank Secrecy Act. The lawmakers called for swift action against Binance and Tether to choke off funding to terrorists targeting Israel.

Binance's actions following the attack deemed insufficient by lawmakers

Following the Oct. 7 attacks, Binance froze accounts linked to Hamas, but Lummis and Hill deemed this action as insufficient. They accused Binance of allowing terrorist groups to conduct business and criticized the exchange for being "willfully blind" to these activities. Similar allegations were made against Tether, accusing the company of knowingly facilitating violations of applicable sanctions laws. Lummis and Hill argued that Binance's recent cooperation with Israeli law enforcement is irrelevant to its criminal culpability since it only occurred after being caught.

While some reports claim Binance is now cooperating with Israeli law enforcement, this is immaterial to criminal culpability because Binance is only doing so after knowingly allowing its exchange to be used by terrorist organizations, and only after they have been caught.