Binance filed a defamation suit against Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, on the same day the newspaper published a report claiming the US Justice Department is investigating whether Iran used the world’s largest crypto exchange to move money in violation of US sanctions.
In the complaint filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, the company said the newspaper published “false and defamatory statements” about its compliance practices and handling of Iran-related transactions in an article published on February 23.
In that article, the Journal said Binance fired staff who flagged funds moving through the exchange to sanctioned entities, claims Binance denied. The lawsuit says Binance did not fire employees for raising compliance concerns. Staff departures were due to alleged breaches of internal data protection policies rather than retaliation, it said.
“Binance categorically did not dismantle any compliance investigation,” a spokesperson for the exchange told CoinDesk. “The WSJ continues to report the same falsehoods. As a result, we have filed a defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal.”
In Wednesday’s story, the Journal said DOJ officials contacted people with knowledge of the transactions as they gathered evidence tied to cryptocurrencies moving through the platform. It cited people familiar with the situation. It is unclear whether the department is investigating potential wrongdoing by Binance itself or is only focusing on customers who used the exchange, it said.
Binance Fires Back
In a blog post published Wednesday, the exchange addressed the journal’s February report point by point. It said the $1.7 billion in flagged funds “did not originate with Binance and did not terminate with Binance,” instead passing through several independent intermediaries, with “the vast majority of the funds” having “no confirmed Iranian connection.”
The newspaper had said that internal investigators had flagged crypto transfers from Chinese clients to wallets linked to Iranian financial networks. A large portion of the funds, more than $1 billion, reportedly flowed through Blessed Trust, a Hong Kong-based payments firm that worked with the exchange.
Binance said its investigators gained “immediate access” to the Blessed Trust account, which was “repeatedly renewed, as confirmed by system logs.”
It says it identified the suspicious activity through information from law enforcement and its own internal investigation, then reported the activity and removed the accounts involved.
Earlier this month, it told a US Senate inquiry that it found no evidence that accounts on its platform traded directly with Iranian entities.
“The truth is that Binance’s investigation continued and revealed a sophisticated, multi-jurisdictional pattern of financial activity spanning Asia, the Middle East and beyond,” the spokesperson said. “Binance mapped this complex activity, terminated the relevant user accounts and reported to law enforcement.”
The company says it is “cooperating fully with law enforcement” and employs more than 1,500 people in compliance and risk roles, about 25% of its global workforce.
Legal spotlight
The case and probe bring Binance back into the legal spotlight.
In 2020, it sued Forbes for making false allegations against the company. That case was dropped several months later.
In 2023, the company pleaded guilty to violating US money laundering and sanctions laws and agreed to pay $4.3 billion in fines. Founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao also pleaded guilty to a related charge and served four months in prison before receiving a presidential pardon in October 2025.
As part of the settlement, Binance operates under a US designated compliance monitor. This monitor has also requested records related to the Iranian-related transfers.
UPDATE (11 March 13:00 UTC): Adds Binance statement, lawsuit details and details from journal report starting in third paragraph.
