Elusive Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao Evades U.S. SEC, Forces Alternative Document Delivery
(Photo : Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters/File Photo)
Zhao's whereabouts are so elusive, the U.S. SEC has been forced to request the court for alternative means to serve him documents.
According to a Bloomberg report on Friday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has requested a federal court to approve the use of "alternative methods" for delivering documents to Binance and Changpeng Zhao.
The SEC further stated that the founder of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange is "known for highly guarding information about his whereabouts," implying that finding Zhao has proven difficult.
On Monday, the SEC accused Binance and Zhao of violating securities regulations and asked the District Court of Columbia to permit the agency to provide legal documents during the case investigation by sending copies of the documents to the representatives of Binance and Zhao.
Zhao is said to be recently in Dubai. Binance has long claimed that it has no headquarters and its employees are scattered around the world.
In documents submitted on Thursday, the SEC noted, "Binance and Zhao are not typical foreign entities and individuals, because it is well known that they do not acknowledge the existence of a headquarters or a domicile, let alone determine their whereabouts. Zhao is known for protecting his location information."
On Monday, the SEC officially sued Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, and its CEO Changpeng Zhao for violating U.S. securities laws, alleging that they issued Binance Coin and the stablecoin BUSD without registration, accusing them of participating in a network of widespread fraud, conflicts of interest, lack of disclosure, and deliberate evasion of laws.
On Tuesday, the SEC requested an emergency freeze of Binance's assets on its U.S. platform (Binance US) worldwide, dealing another heavy blow to the crypto world.