Changpeng Zhao, the co-founder of the crypto exchange platform Binance has been sued by the Commodity Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC). The statutory body accused Zhao of willfully bypassing US law. 

According to multiple media sources, CFTC filed a civil enforcement action in a federal court in Chicago. It claimed that Zhao violated the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations. It also accused Samuel Lim, the former chief compliance officer of helping Zhao to commit the violations. 

“Defendants have disregarded applicable federal laws while fostering Binance’s US customer base because it has been profitable for them to do so,” the complaint said. Gretchen Lowe, the chief counsel of CFTC added, “Defendants’ alleged wilful evasion of US law is at the core of the commission’s complaint against Binance. The defendants’ own emails and chats reflect that Binance’s compliance efforts have been a sham and Binance deliberately chose – over and over – to place profits over following the law.”

In his blog post, the Binance co-founder claimed the allegations unexpected and disappointing. He also said that the complaint carries an ‘incomplete recitation of facts,’ and the company does not agree with a lot of issues raised by the complaint. He also claimed that his company co-operatively worked with the CFTC for more than two years. 

“Today, the CFTC filed an unexpected and disappointing civil complaint, despite our working cooperatively with the CFTC for over two years. Upon an initial review, the complaint appears to contain an incomplete recitation of facts, and we do not agree with the characterization of many of the issues alleged in the complaint. While we will only be able to give full responses in due time, we will address a few key points below.”