Yahya 
On September 25, a complaint was launched against the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), claiming that money from a significant $4.3 billion settlement with Binance that should have gone to the Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund was illegally withheld. Four plaintiffs, relatives or victims of state-sponsored terrorism, argue that under the Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Act, 75% of civil proceeds and 100% of criminal proceeds from cases like Binance’s should be deposited into this fund.
Argued in a Washington, DC federal court, the lawsuit contends that although the DOJ has allegedly intended to allocate at least $1.5 billion to a fund for crime victims, which the plaintiffs contend is illegal, it has placed roughly $898.6 million into the fund. The plaintiffs want a court decision requiring the Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund to receive all qualified Binance case money.
Declared defendants in the complaint are the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Treasury Department, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, US Attorney General Merrick Garland, and the DOJ.
Accepting a $4.3 billion pay-off, Binance accepted a guilty plea in November 2023 to violate US sanctions and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPPA). Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao also entered a guilty plea to criminal counts including violations of the Bank Secresy Act, therefore imposing a $50 million fine and a four-month jail sentence. Zhao estimated release date is September 29.
The DOJ had earlier investigated Binance for providing services to Russians under sanctions imposed in April 2022, so complicating the legal picture surrounding the exchange.
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