The families of an American woman held hostage and released in Gaza and two men killed in the October 7 attack in Israel have accused major cryptocurrency exchange Binance of providing a funding mechanism for Hamas. I filed a complaint.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court in Manhattan, also names Iran and Syria and joins a series of lawsuits over Hamas attacks on Israel that have killed at least 1,200 Israelis, according to Israeli officials. This is the first of many potential lawsuits.
Some of the plaintiffs are members of the Raanan family. Judith Raanan and his daughter Natalie were kidnapped and detained in Gaza and released in a prisoner exchange in October. Other plaintiffs include the family and estate of Itai Grisko, a 20-year-old Israeli Defense Force sergeant from New Jersey who was killed in action during a Hamas attack.
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Brothers Ayelet and Orr are calling on the Israeli government to secure the release of the remaining hostages before launching a ground invasion of Gaza.
The complaint accuses Binance of processing numerous transactions for Hamas from 2017 to 2023 and “providing secret financing tools that Binance intentionally concealed from U.S. regulators.”
Binance did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment.
The company and former CEO Chenpeng Chao pleaded guilty last year to violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws, while agreeing to pay more than $4 billion in fines.
According to a Justice Department filing, the violations include failing to process and report “transactions in crypto wallets that Binance executives knew were affiliated with terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.” It was.
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How many hostages will be freed? Israeli authorities confirmed they had received a preliminary list of names and were in contact with the family.
Mr. Zhao agreed to resign as part of a plea deal and is scheduled to be sentenced to up to 18 months in prison in February. The company also agreed to participate in a number of anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance programs and to have an independent monitor in place for the next three years.
“For years, Binance failed to conduct due diligence on the majority of its users through August 2021 and was willfully unaware of the use of its platform by illegal actors, including terrorists,” the complaint states.
The lawsuit further states, “Incredibly, Binance does everything in its power to protect users associated with Hamas and other terrorist organizations from regulatory scrutiny, especially if they are 'VIP users who have generated significant profits for Binance.' “I did my best,” he added.
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Dozens of family members of hostages held by Hamas stormed an Israeli parliamentary committee on Monday, demanding a deal to win the release of their loved ones.
The suit, modeled after a lawsuit filed after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, accused Binance of supporting terrorist organizations and providing material support to terrorists, and sought unspecified damages. .
“This needs to be done. These crypto funds have turned a blind eye to all of this illegal activity and are now actually facilitating terrorism,” said plaintiff's attorney Rob Seiden. said. “We're doing this to send a message to these crypto institutions that they can't do this and they have to be more careful.”
Israeli officials say it is believed that more than 100 hostages are still being held in the Gaza Strip. Israel's military response to the October 7 attack has left at least 27,019 people dead in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
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