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The United States Department of Justice must place more of its massive $4.3 billion settlement with Binance into a fund for victims of state-sponsored terrorism, a lawsuit claims.
On Sept. 25, four people who are victims or family of victims of state-sponsored terrorism <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.273006/gov.uscourts.dcd.273006.1.0.pdf" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">sued</a> the DOJ in a Washington, D.C. federal court, claiming it improperly withheld or delayed depositing the proceeds of <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-officials-announce-binance-settlement" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Binance’s November settlement</a> into the Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund.
The suit claimed under the Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Act, 100% of criminal proceeds and 75% of civil proceeds from cases like Binance’s should be deposited into the fund, which was established to compensate victims of state-sponsored terrorism.
They allege that the DOJ has put just over $898.6 million into the fund and “has asserted that it intends to direct at least $1.5 billion” into a fund for crime victims, which the lawsuit claims is not legal.
<figure>
 <img alt="Terror victims claim DOJ withholding share of $4.3B Binance penalty" name="" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-09/01922c6b-118e-700c-bc4f-23b29e8ad99c">
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 Snippet from filing in Case 1:24-cv-02714. Source: CourtListener
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</figure>
The suit seeks a court order requiring the DOJ to deposit all qualifying Binance proceeds into the Victims Fund.
The lawsuit also named as defendants the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Attorney General Merrick Garland, the Treasury Department along with its agencies, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Related: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/cz-sentenced-chronology-binance-legal-us" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">CZ sentenced: A chronology of Binance’s legal battles in the US</a>
Crypto exchange <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/binance-vs-coinbase-how-do-they-compare" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Binance</a> pled guilty in November 2023 to violating US sanctions and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in 2023, <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-officials-announce-binance-settlement" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">agreeing to pay</a> about $4.3 billion in fines and forfeitures.
Former CEO <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/changpeng-zhao-ceo-of-binance" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Changpeng Zhao</a> also agreed to plead guilty to one felony charge related to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, pay a $50 million penalty and step down as CEO. In April, he <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/changpeng-zhao-binance-sentenced-prison" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">was sentenced</a> to four months in jail and is set to be released on Sept. 29.&nbsp;
In May 2023, the DOJ’s national security and crime divisions <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-justice-department-investigating-binance-for-violating-russian-sanctions-report" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">investigated Binance</a> for providing services to Russians after sanctions were imposed on that country in April 2022.
Magazine: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/cz-downfall-medical-pot-crypto-sales-crypto-city-guide-to-seattle/" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Crypto City Guide to Seattle: Site of CZ’s downfall and pot crypto vendors</a>

Terror victims claim DOJ withholding share of $4.3B Binance penalty

Cointelegraph

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