Weeks after President Trump granted a pardon to convicted Binance founder Changpeng Zhao in October, executives at the crypto exchange dismantled a staff investigation into $1 billion that had recently moved through Binance to a network funding Iran-backed terror groups, according to company documents and people familiar with Binance’s operations.
A trading account belonging to a close Binance business partner was identified as a primary channel that moved cryptocurrency to the Iranian network.
Binance subsequently fired the investigators who had uncovered the transfers—and the network remained active.
A Binance spokeswoman said the investigators weren’t “suspended or terminated for raising compliance concerns” but instead left “based on individual circumstances.” The investigation continued, she said, and resulted in the entities identified being removed from Binance’s platform.
The episode echoed some of the same concerns that drew U.S. scrutiny in 2023, when prosecutors secured a plea deal with the world’s largest crypto exchange and a prison sentence for Zhao. Binance admitted to breaking sanctions and anti-money-laundering laws—violations that turned it into a money-laundering hub for criminals, terrorists and Iranian-sanction evaders.
The exchange paid a record $4.3 billion fine and pledged reform under U.S. oversight, including by expanding investigative staff to block illicit money. Its founder, Zhao, was sentenced to four months in prison for failing to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering program. The moves essentially shut Binance out of the giant U.S. market, although it continued to operate globally.