Amid a long-running money laundering investigation of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Western District of Washington in Seattle subpoenaed investment firms in recent months to provide records of their communication with Binance, according to a recent Washington Post report , citing two anonymous sources. The subpoenas do not necessarily mean prosecutors will bring charges against the investment firms as the Binance probe is still taking hold, legal experts told the Washington Post. Since 2018, Binance has been under investigation in the U.S. in connection with its compliance with U.S. anti-money laundering laws and sanctions. Prosecutors at the Department of Justice, though, have yet to agree on whether they have enough evidence to file criminal charges against some Binance executives, including founder Changpeng Zhao. Patrick Hillmann, chief strategy officer at Binance, admitted to the Washington Post that the trading platform's approach to regulatory compliance was poor in its early days, though it has invested more recently in compliance programs. Despite the ongoing probe into Binance, the exchange has managed to remain the leader of crypto trading volume in 2022.
