Binance co-CEO Richard Teng and compliance head Noah Perlman released a video statement rejecting media accusations of ignoring sanctions and firing internal investigators.
Previously, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Fortune reported that exchange employees discovered transfers totaling approximately $1.7 billion to Iranian-linked accounts and were terminated after reporting to management.
“The irresponsible media coverage suggests reckless indifference or disregard for our compliance and sanctions obligations, which is simply false and misleading,” Teng stated.
Perlman provided statistics for 2025: the exchange responded to over 71,000 law enforcement requests and assisted in the seizure of more than $130 million. He claimed that sanctions-related risks had decreased by 97% over 18 months.
“Binance’s internal review found no evidence that users conducted transactions with sanctioned individuals or wallets at the time of activity. The wallets of end recipients were only identified as sanctioned after the activity ceased,” Perlman asserted.
Teng emphasized that Binance has “allocated extraordinary resources” to revamp compliance systems following its guilty plea for violating sanctions and anti-money laundering laws in 2023. Regarding the terminations, Perlman stated:
“Let me be perfectly clear: no one at Binance has ever been fired for raising compliance issues. […] In the cases mentioned in the media, employee terminations were related to violations of internal company policy, not the substance of the investigation results.”
Teng also sent a legal letter to the WSJ demanding they “immediately correct and fully retract these false claims.”
Recently there has been inaccurate reporting about our compliance program.
— Richard Teng (@_RichardTeng) February 24, 2026
The Wall Street Journal published defamatory claims, and despite our efforts to set the record straight, the journalist failed to acknowledge any of our corrections on the allegations. We have sent the… pic.twitter.com/rgl7KrwqUL
What the Media Claims
On February 23, NYT published an investigation stating that Binance’s compliance team identified two channels of funds directed to Iranian entities in mid-2025.
The first is linked to the Hong Kong company Hexa Whale Trading Limited. Through its Binance account, $490 million was routed to crypto wallets associated with Iranian organizations. Israeli law enforcement informed exchange investigators that Hexa Whale was financing terrorist groups.
The second channel involves Blessed Trust, also registered in Hong Kong. It served as a fiat partner for Binance and provided payment services. According to documents, $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency was transferred from Blessed Trust’s account to entities linked to Iran. Investigators established their connection to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is designated as a terrorist organization by several countries.
According to NYT, after presenting their findings to management in November 2025, two investigators were suspended. They were replaced by colleagues, who also lost their positions within days. Fortune first reported the terminations on February 13, noting that at least five employees lost their jobs.
Exchange representative Rachel Conlan stated that the company took action following the investigation: accounts linked to Iranian transactions were removed, and authorities were notified.
Conlan noted that the internal review found no violations of the sanctions regime. She emphasized that employees were not fired for “raising compliance issues,” but for “unauthorized disclosure of confidential client information.”
Collaboration with Blessed Trust was terminated in January 2026. Binance provided information about the company to the IRS and the FBI, and prepared a report for the U.S. Department of Justice.
Blessed Trust director Leung Ka Kui stated that the company did not facilitate transactions in violation of sanctions and did not make payments to Iranian organizations.
On February 24, Senator Richard Blumenthal sent Teng a letter demanding records of Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust’s activities, internal reports from investigators, and data on the terminations of compliance staff by March 6.
Recall that in January, Binance published its annual report, stating a 96% reduction in illegal transactions since 2023 and processing over 71,000 requests from law enforcement.