Just a day after filing a 136-page complaint against Binance, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a motion for a temporary restraining order to freeze assets tied to the US arm of the world’s largest crypto exchange.
On Monday, the SEC filed 13 charges against BINANCE and its CEO Changpeng Zhao over what the federal agency’s head, Gary Gensler, called “an extensive web of deception, conflicts of interest, lack of disclosure, and calculated evasion of the law.”
After filing the lawsuit, the regulator on Tuesday submitted a new asking the District of Columbia court to issue an order to freeze the assets of BAM Management US Holdings and BAM Trading Services, the holding and operating firms for Binance.US.
“Plaintiff U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (‘SEC’) requests that this Court issue a temporary restraining order: freezing assets (both known and unknown) of Defendant BAM Management US Holdings Inc. (‘BAM Management’) and BAM Trading Services Inc. (‘BAM Trading’) (collectively, ‘BAM’).”
The SEC also sought other reliefs, including measures concerning the custody and control of customer assets held by Binance.US. The regulator says the court’s favorable action will protect customers of the trading platform.
“The SEC respectfully submits that this relief is necessary on an expedited basis to ensure the safety of customer assets and prevent the dissipation of available assets for any judgment given the Defendants’ years of violative conduct, disregard of the laws of the United States, evasion of regulatory oversight, and open questions about various financial transfers and the custody and control of Customer Assets—including by Defendants who claim they are not subject to the Court’s jurisdiction.”
