Binance (Law Enforcement Cooperation Rollback)
Summary
Beginning in April 2025, Binance quietly instituted a policy requiring law enforcement agencies to route freeze and seizure requests through formal Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) channels rather than accepting direct informal requests, adding weeks to response timelines. A DOJ internal memo circulated in June 2026 warned U.S. prosecutors to expect no courtesy freezes from Binance effective June 8, 2026, while police from five European countries raised cooperation failures at a law enforcement conference in the Netherlands. Binance publicly denied any policy change, directly contradicting the DOJ memo and contemporaneous reporting by The New York Times and The Information.
Connected Entities
1 entities · 10 linked investigations- + 6 more
Timeline(17 events)
2023-11-21
Binance pleads guilty to Bank Secrecy Act violations and sanctions offenses; agrees to pay over $4.3 billion. Founder Changpeng Zhao resigns and pleads guilty personally. FinCEN imposes five-year monitorship.
DOJ Press Release2024-03-01
Alleged start of $1.7 billion in cryptocurrency transfers from two Binance accounts to Iran-linked entities, per internal investigator reports.
Fortune2025-04-08
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche disbands the DOJ's National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET) effective immediately.
CoinDesk2025-04-01
Binance quietly institutes new policy requiring most foreign law enforcement freeze and seizure requests to be routed through UAE government channels and formal MLAT processes rather than accepted directly.
CoinDesk / NYT via PYMNTS2026-01-01
Erin Fracolli, Binance global head of special investigations, departs.
AML Intelligence / Bloomberg2026-02-13
Fortune reports Binance fired or suspended at least four internal investigators who had flagged $1.7 billion in alleged Iran-linked flows.
Fortune2026-02-01
Jarek Jakubcek, Binance head of intelligence and investigations in Asia Pacific, departs.
AML Intelligence / Bloomberg2026-02-25
Senator Richard Blumenthal opens Senate inquiry into Binance over alleged $1.7 billion in Iran-linked cryptocurrency flows.
CoinDesk2026-03-01
Peter Van Logtenstein (global investigations unit lead) and Inga Petrauskaitė (financial crime investigations team lead) depart Binance.
AML Intelligence / Bloomberg2026-04-06
Bloomberg reports wave of senior Binance compliance staff departures from financial crime, sanctions, and monitoring roles. CCO Noah Perlman reported to be considering exit.
Bloomberg / Fintech Singapore2026-06-08
Effective date cited in DOJ internal memo for Binance ending courtesy freezes and requiring MLAT or formal legal process for asset holds and seizures.
CryptoTimes / BeInCrypto2026-06-01
Law enforcement conference held in the Netherlands; police from five European countries raise concerns about Binance cooperation failures under the new MLAT-only policy.
NYT via CoinDesk / PYMNTS2026-06-01
Treasury-appointed compliance monitor Sharon Cohen Levin hosts town hall with Binance co-CEO Richard Teng and new regulatory adherence head Andrew Stemmer.
Cryptopolitan2026-07-09
Initial reporting on the DOJ internal memo circulates widely in crypto media; Binance issues categorical denial of any policy change.
CryptoTimes / BeInCrypto2026-07-28
The New York Times publishes comprehensive report confirming Binance changed law enforcement cooperation procedures, frustrating investigators globally. CoinDesk covers the NYT report.
CoinDesk (citing NYT)Decision Log
- #1publish⛓ pending7/29/2026, 11:29:50 PMhash: GCLDmtwquSjayraRV9QioQRfNhgWfeLs88kwrUnLZV6F
24 of 26 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-sonnet-4-6
generated: 7/29/2026, 11:29:39 PM
last updated: 7/30/2026, 10:26:37 AM
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