US Prosecutors Scrutinized Chanpeng Zhao’s Phone Records in Anti-Money Laundering Probe

In late 2020, U.S. federal prosecutors asked crypto exchange Binance to submit internal documents related to its money-laundering checks and communication involving CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, Reuters reported Thursday, citing a written request.

The Justice Department asked the company to hand over messages between Zhao and other executives on matters related to detection of illegal transactions and customer acquisition in the U.S., the report added.

The authorities also sought any company records with instructions that "documents be destroyed, altered or removed from Binance's files" or "transferred from the United States," the report said.

Binance has been under the radar of U.S authorities for some time now, with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission looking at allegations of insider trading and market manipulation by the crypto exchange.

In a tweet, CZ said that his "chat messages are semi-public anyway."

"As has been well documented, regulators across the globe are reaching out to every major crypto exchange to better understand our industry. This is a standard process for any regulated organization and we work with agencies regularly to address any outstanding questions," a Binance spokesperson said.