A US federal court has dismissed a terrorism financing lawsuit against cryptocurrency exchange Binance filed by victims and relatives of victims of 64 attacks linked to militant groups.
The case involved 535 plaintiffs who alleged the exchange violated sanctions and anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing rules that allowed hundreds of millions of dollars to reach groups including Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS and al-Qaeda.
Judge Jeannette A. Vargas of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled on March 6 that the plaintiffs failed to plausibly demonstrate Binance’s conduct directly aided the specific attacks cited in the lawsuit.
The defendants in the case included Binance, its founder and former chief executive Changpeng Zhao, and BAM Trading, the operator of Binance.US.
The court acknowledged allegations that the exchange was aware of potential misuse due to past compliance failures but said awareness alone does not meet the legal threshold required under the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act.
Judge Vargas said the complaint did not sufficiently link Binance’s actions to individual attacks or establish that the company intentionally assisted the groups behind them.
The court gave the plaintiffs 60 days to file an amended complaint detailing specific wallet ownership and transaction records to attempt to connect the alleged activity with the attacks.