WSJ reports include Binance comments
It also seems worth noting that Binance’s complaint claimed that the Journal made no changes to its report to include statements from the company; however, the report has clearly been edited.
For example, Binance’s lawsuit protests a subheading on the article that said, “Weeks after Trump pardoned Binance’s founder, the company dismantled [the] probe and suspended the investigators.” A current reading of that article, however, shows the subheading now includes a note that “Binance denied inquiry ended or staff fired for the concerns.” An archived version of the article suggests that an update was made on the day the article was published.
Additionally, a subsequent WSJ report, out today—confirming a Justice Department probe into Binance—includes many, if not all, of the statements that Binance accused the Journal of refusing to put on record.
For Binance, the lawsuit seems unlikely to stall government probes, particularly since critics like Blumenthal continue to closely monitor the exchange’s alleged attempts to influence the Trump administration.
After Donald Trump controversially pardoned Binance founder Zhao for his 2023 crypto crimes, the president admitted that “I don’t know who he is.” Alarmed by the pardon, some lawmakers like Blumenthal are concerned that “instead of actually preventing illicit use, Binance has sought to evade accountability and influence the White House through lobbying and a financial partnership with World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the cryptocurrency firm owned by the sons of President Trump and his special envoy Steve Witkoff.”
According to Blumenthal, Binance is now a “vital engine” of Trump’s family business, as “about 85 percent of WLFI’s stablecoins (USD1) are held in Binance accounts.”
To ensure that Binance isn’t using its potential influence to dodge accountability for its role in allowing “the illicit use of cryptocurrencies, including by Iranian and Russian entities, to bypass US sanctions,” Blumenthal is seeking a wide range of records. Despite shedding some light on why Binance claims it fired its compliance staff, Binance’s complaint, which seems to depend on the court making the same inferences from WSJ’s report as the exchange does, most likely will not satisfy the senator’s inquiry.
