Leaked files show Binance moved $1.7 billion through 13 suspicious accounts – including $144 million after the $4.3 billion US plea deal – despite red flags of terror financing and strange logins.
Summary
- Internal data reviewed by the FT shows that 13 suspect Binance accounts handled $1.7 billion in crypto, with a volume of about $144 million after the 2023 US criminal settlement.
- One Venezuelan slum account moved about $93 million, and another linked to a 25-year-old woman received $177 million as we went through 647 bank information changes and 496 accounts.
- Several wallets received USDT from addresses later frozen by Israel due to alleged ties to Hezbollah and the Iran-backed Houthis, even as Binance claimed “zero tolerance” was met.
Binance moved hundreds of millions of dollars through accounts flagged for suspicious activity following a $4.3 billion settlement with US authorities in 2023, the Financial Times reported Thursday.
The reportbased on internal files reviewed by the newspaper, stated that accounts with red flags continued trading on the platform after Binance reached a settlement with the US Department of Justice in November 2023. The leaked data covers transactions from 2021 through 2025, according to the Financial Times.
The newspaper cited an account registered in the name of a Venezuelan slum resident who transferred approximately $93 million through Binance in four years. Some of these funds came from a network later accused by US authorities of secretly transferring money for Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah, the report said.
Another account, registered in the name of a 25-year-old Venezuelan woman, received more than $177 million in cryptocurrency in two years and changed its associated banking details 647 times in 14 months, cycling through nearly 500 unique accounts in multiple countries, according to the Financial Times.
The newspaper reviewed data linked to 13 suspicious accounts that collectively handled $1.7 billion in transactions. About $144 million of that volume occurred after the 2023 settlement, the report said.
Stefan Cassella, a former US federal prosecutor, told the Financial Times that the activity resembled that of an unlicensed money transmission company.
The investigation revealed examples of login activities that seemed physically impossible. One account linked to a Venezuelan bank employee showed access from Caracas in the afternoon, followed by a login from Osaka, Japan, early the next morning, indicating account compromise or coordinated abuse, according to the report.
Several accounts received funds in Tether’s stablecoin from wallets that were later frozen by Israeli authorities under anti-terrorism laws, the Financial Times reported. Many transfers were traced to wallets linked to Tawfiq Al-Law, a Syrian national accused of moving money to Hezbollah and Iran-backed Houthi groups. Israel seized related accounts in 2023, and the US Treasury Department sanctioned Al-Law in 2024.
Binance told the Financial Times that it maintains strict compliance controls and takes a zero-tolerance approach to illegal activity, citing systems designed to flag and investigate suspicious transactions.
The findings come amid investigations into Binance’s governance following a presidential pardon from founder Changpeng Zhao in October over anti-money laundering violations. The pardon, coupled with extensive business ties between the former president’s family and Binance-affiliated entities, has complicated surveillance efforts, according to former intelligence officials cited by the newspaper.
Much of the activity reviewed by the Financial Times took place after independent monitors were appointed in 2024, the report said.
