Binance sues Wall Street Journal as newspaper says U.S. Dept. of Justice is investigating Iran transactions

The situation adds pressure to Binance, which is already operating under a compliance monitor following its $4.3 billion anti-money laundering and sanctions settlement in 2023.

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What to know:

• The U.S. Justice Department is investigating the alleged use of Binance by Iranian networks to evade U.S. sanctions, with over $1 billion in crypto transfers under scrutiny.
• Binance is suing the Wall Street Journal for defamation for an earlier article on the same subject.

Binance said it filed a defamation lawsuit against Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, on the same day the newspaper published a report claiming the U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether Iran used the world's largest crypto exchange to move funds in violation of American sanctions.

In the complaint filed in the U.S. 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 Iranian-linked transactions in an article published on Feb. 23.

In Wednesday's story, the Journal reported that DOJ officials contacted individuals with knowledge of the transactions as they gathered evidence tied to cryptocurrencies that moved through the platform. It cited people familiar with the situation.

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