Merit Peak, an offshore trading company controlled by Binance chief executive Zhao Changpeng, received around US$11 billion (S$14.8 billion) of client assets through a Seychelles-based firm set up to take customer deposits, a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing shows.
The filing on Tuesday asked a US court to freeze Binance's US assets. It came a day after the SEC sued Binance, its billionaire CEO, and the operator of its US affiliate exchange for allegedly operating a "web of deception".
In its 13 charges, the SEC alleged that Binance and Mr Zhao used Merit Peak and Sigma Chain, another trading firm controlled by him, to commingle corporate funds with client assets and use the monies "as they please".
This put customers' assets at risk while Binance sought to "maximise" its profits, the SEC wrote in its civil complaint on Monday.
In response to the SEC's lawsuit, Binance said it would defend its platform vigorously. "All user assets on Binance and Binance affiliate platforms, including Binance.US, are safe and secure," it said in a statement on Monday.
This story is from the June 09, 2023 edition of The Straits Times.
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This story is from the June 09, 2023 edition of The Straits Times.
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