The largest bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency exchange on the market, Binance, has officially filed for a protection order against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), an organization that launched legal action against this company weeks ago.
in one court document Filed and addressed in federal court for the District of Columbia on the afternoon of Monday, August 14, Binance’s legal representatives solicited the court to do so Limit the SEC to questioning just four employees of the companyand not six as the federal agency claims.
According to Binance, the protection order will prevent the SEC from “interrogating witnesses to testimony on matters outside the scope of the consent order issued last April.”
The command required from the exchange, in addition to paying a fine of $100 million, Implementation of a customer due diligence programMaintain transaction records and report suspicious transactions to regulators.
Binance reminds of this the SEC required them to provide him with at least six employees and officers of the company, which would have to provide the agency with information on a “dozen topics,” many of which “have nothing to do with client assets,” according to the company.
These employees also had to be available at all times to submit comments. Respondents include Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance; and the company’s chief financial officer, Wei Zho, as required by the SEC.
However, Binance offered that only four employees should make statementsincluding “those best placed to answer questions about the custody and security of client assets.”
However, this offer was rejected by the SEC., claims Binance. A position that is “unreasonable” and part of a “broader pattern in which the SEC is abusing its powers,” according to the cryptocurrency firm.
“The SEC has spent the last 45 days processing incredibly voluminous and inappropriate disclosure requests, searching on the face of every document held by Binance related to client assets,” the company says.
A disclosure request is the legal process by which a party in a court proceeding requests information from the other party that is relevant to the case. In this special case The request was reflected in the SEC’s consent order against Binance signed in April.
The SEC believes they have carte blanche to investigate anything from Binance
For Binance, the SEC believes that the consent order “gives it carte blanche to investigate all aspects of asset custody practices, without apparent limitations.” And that’s why now is The federal body “requires statements from the most important executives” of exchange.
These executives, according to Binance, “do not have extensive first-hand knowledge of the facts surrounding the security, custody and transfer of client assets.”
“Essentially, rather than pursuing the close and ‘limited’ discovery authorized by the consent order, the SEC is conducting a ‘fishing expedition’ to ensure customer assets are safe and available,” Binance said.
In legal jargon, this is called a “fishing expedition”. try to find evidence that someone has done something illegal without making it clear that this is the original purpose of their search.
In light of the above, Binance is insisting on its application for a protection order against the SEC, which they are also filing an application with that Changpeng Zhao and Wi Zho be released from testimony and that requests for communications on various subjects will ultimately be barred.
The regulatory manhunt against Binance
Binance’s court-pending protection order is a new episode in the active litigation between this cryptocurrency company and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
As CriptoNoticias reports, Binance has been indicted by the SEC for allegedly violating United States federal securities laws and committing other criminal offenses.
Along with the SEC, the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has also taken legal action against Binance. This bureau claims the exchange has “several years” to evade US law.
Binance recently responded to the CFTC, saying it was “exceeding the limits of its powers” as that agency allegedly wants to regulate people and businesses whose headquarters are outside the United Statesas reported by this medium.