The suit accuses the cryptocurrency exchange of facilitating terrorist payments
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance, its former CEO Changpeng Zhao, and the governments of Syria and Iran have been named as defendants in a suit filed by families of three victims impacted by Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.
The plaintiffs include family members of persons affected, former hostages and the estate of a doctor who was killed while treating casualties in the region. They seek damages under the United States Anti-Terrorism Act, arguing that the defendants delivered “substantial assistance” to the terrorists.
The complaint filed on January 31 in New York Southern District Court states, “Defendant Binance processed numerous transactions associated with Hamas and related Palestinian terrorist groups between 2017 and mid-2023, providing a clandestine financing tool that Binance deliberately hid from US regulators.”
It alleges that Binance assisted foreign terrorist groups, supplying material support to the organizations. The plaintiffs seek compensatory and punitive damages and reimbursement of expenses.
Binance agreed to pay $4.3 billion in fines and submit to broad monitoring by US government agencies in their settlement. The firm froze accounts connected with Hamas within days after a proposal from Israeli law enforcement following the October 7 attack.
Iran has been blamed for being a “leading global sponsor” of Hamas and international terrorism, including funneling hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the group for equipment and military training.
Syria has also faced comparable accusations, including that it supplied Hamas with a drug called Captagon, “the sale of which is believed to be a financial source for terrorist groups and was used by Hamas terrorists to promote feelings of rage, irritability, and impatience” which provoked them to “murder and torture” victims in the October terrorist attacks.
The US Congress is hearing calls for measures against terrorist financing from both parties, with Binance being named in many of them.
