Angus Berwick

NEW: Binance commingled customer funds with company revenue in breach of U.S. financial rules that require customer money to be kept separate, we found. Ex-regulators said this put client assets at risk by obscuring their whereabouts reuters.com/investigates/s…

Scoop: @BinanceUS fires staff after it was sued by SEC, which is also seeking to freeze its assets Around 50 people have lost their jobs, one source tells us Full story below With @AABerwick reuters.com/technology/cry…

The SEC has filed 13 charges against Binance and founder CZ, including that they secretly controlled customers’ assets, allowing them to commingle and divert client funds. @_tom_wilson_ and I detailed how Binance did this two weeks ago: reuters.com/investigates/s…

BREAKING: The SEC is suing Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao for breaking US securities rules trib.al/XHAJFcC

Exclusive: Crypto giant @Binance controlled ‘independent’ U.S. affiliate’s bank accounts Latest with @AABerwick reuters.com/technology/cry…

NEW: In February, @_tom_wilson_ & I reported that Binance had secret access to a bank account owned by its “independent” US affiliate. We’ve now found that Binance controlled five of the affiliate’s accounts, including one holding US customer funds: reuters.com/technology/cry…

You can listen to me unpack the story on the Reuters World News podcast: link.reuters.com/binance-twitter

We also reviewed bank and company records, and interviewed former insiders, to show how Binance used Silvergate Bank as the lynchpin of its financial operations. The client funds were commingled in one of its Silvergate accounts, we found

NEW: Binance commingled customer funds with company revenue in breach of U.S. financial rules that require customer money to be kept separate, we found. Ex-regulators said this put client assets at risk by obscuring their whereabouts reuters.com/investigates/s…

@arreglalo thanks

@AABerwick I reported them for impersonation.

If anyone receives DMs from this account (note the extra underscore), it's not me. You can email me at angus.berwick@thomsonreuters.com to check. And thanks to Twitter for doing away with proper account verification

We at the @WSJ would be grateful if you read and share our article about our colleague, Evan Gershkovich, who is unjustly imprisoned in Putin’s Russia. #IStandWithEvan #JournalismIsNotACrime wsj.com/articles/wsj-r…

NEW: Catherine Coley, who launched Binance's US exchange in 2019 as its CEO and left suddenly two years later, has enlisted a former top cop at the CFTC to represent her in the U.S. government's investigations into the crypto giant - w/ @ChrisPrentice reuters.com/legal/ex-ceo-b…

A Reuters review of more than 2,000 court cases shows how law enforcement officials have used surveillance and facial recognition to detain hundreds of protesters in Moscow: reuters.com/investigates/s…

Our story today on the CFTC's action: reuters.com/legal/crypto-e…

A selection of Lim's texts in the complaint: - Binance’s compliance was "fo sho" - Prioritizing commercial success over compliance was a "biz decision" - "Like come on. They are here for crime" - "there is no fking way in hell I am signing off as the cco for the ofac shit"

The CFTC charged Binance's former compliance chief Samuel Lim, too. @_tom_wilson_ & I reported last year that Lim was aware of Binance's compliance failings. “Damn why touch fiat if dont wanna be compliant. So ironic LOL,” he wrote in a text we reviewed reuters.com/investigates/s…

@KyleSGibson Ah, my mistake

@AABerwick the top one was from someone else to Lim, I think

Honoured to win the @Reuters Reporter of the Year 2022 with @AABerwick, for our investigations into the Binance and FTX crypto exchanges

Binance and CEO @cz_binance have been sued by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission for regulatory violations. "For years, Binance knew they were violating CFTC rules, working actively to both keep the money flowing and avoid compliance" reuters.com/legal/crypto-e…