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Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Van Hollen are calling on the Justice Department to investigate crypto exchange Binance Holdings over whether it has misrepresented its business practices to US lawmakers.
“This is a serious matter,” Warren, D-Mass., and Van Hollen, D-Md., wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland Thursday.
In March, Warren, Van Hollen, and Republican Kansas Senator Roger Marshall requested information about Binance’s relationship with Binance.US, including a set of financial data.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., speaks during a Senate Finance Committee on the nomination of Chris Magnus as the next US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner October 19, 2021 in Washington, DC
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., asks a question during the Senate Banking Committee hearing on Fen. February 15, 2022, in Washington, DC The committee heard testimony on the subject of “Investigating the Report of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets on Stablecoins.”
Binance responded at the time that the two companies were “separate entities” and that compliance was a priority. Binance Chief Strategy Officer Patrick Hillmann, while providing limited financial data, approved the company’s 14-page response to the probe in March.
Thursday’s letter detailed how the cryptocurrency exchange may have made false statements, including whether its American subsidiary, Binance.US, was in fact a separate entity.
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“It appears that Binance and Binance.US have undermined this important investigation and legislative process by providing false and misleading information to Congress,” Warren and Van Hollen wrote in the letter.
In a 136-page complaint filed in federal court on Monday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Binance and the company’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao, of operating a “web of deception.”
With a total of 13 indictments, the SEC complaint accused Binance Holdings, Zhao, BAM Trading and BAM Management US Holdings of violating the Securities Act and the Exchange Act, two U.S. securities laws.
Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, attends the Viva Technology conference at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris on June 16, 2022. (Portal/Benoit Tessier / Portal photos)
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The Justice Department declined to comment. Binance did not respond to FOX Business’ request for comment.