A lawsuit has been filed against Binance France and Binance Holdings Limited for allegedly engaging in deceptive business practices and fraudulent concealment.
In a complaint submitted on December 14, the plaintiffs alleged that Binance had broken French law by publicizing and offering cryptocurrency services before being registered in that country.
Fifteen Investors Are Going Against Binance Holdings Limited
Reports say that the complaint includes screenshots of Binance's social media activity before receiving its license, including a Telegram channel dubbed "Binance French."
The plaintiffs also assert that they lost more than 2.4 million euros as a result of TerraUSD's (UST) collapse, despite Binance's claims that the token was backed by the US dollar.
According to Cointelegraph, Binance has received a license as a provider of digital assets in May 2022 from France's financial market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers.
With the license, the cryptocurrency exchange was able to provide services like asset custody and crypto trading.
In a blog post, Binance France claimed that throughout the time in question, the company did not carry out any promotional communications in France.
The crypto company also pointed out that Telegram groups are international community forums, enabling users to voluntarily create and join channels.
In response to inquiries about Terra stablecoin advertisements in the nation, the business noted that its messaging portrays staking with Binance as safe, not the underlying tokens.
The exchange added that it always includes market risk warnings for cryptocurrency products and has strengthened its descriptions.
As per Cointelegraph, a series of dramatic events in May 2022 led to an unheard-of drop in the price of the LUNA token and its associated stablecoin TerraUSD (UST).
Originally intended to maintain algorithmic parity with the US dollar, TerraUSD (UST) lost its peg and fell to below $0.30.
Read More: Binance Bridge Loses Crypto Worth $566 Million Thanks to Hacker
US Authorities Are Also Preparing Money Laundering Charges Against Binance
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) officials are preparing charges against Binance for unlicensed money transmission, money laundering conspiracy, and violations of criminal sanctions.
However, due in part to the US law enforcement bureaucracy's Byzantine hierarchical structure, no decision has been made regarding when to file these charges, Coin Geek writes.
Prosecutors from three different DOJ divisions, including the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET), the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, and the US Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington, are working on the investigation.
The investigation, which centers on the decisions made by Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, the CEO of Binance, and other important executives, started in 2018 at the Washington State office.
The DOJ was compelled to take action after the Washington agents joined forces with MLARS and the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) division after tracing how criminals were using Binance to move illegal funds.
Despite this large US-based volume, Binance did not comply with US legal requirements by registering with the Department of the Treasury or implementing stringent anti-money laundering (AML) programs.
Related Article: FTX Crypto CEO Loses 94% of Net Worth in One Day
