- Binance.US has filed for a protective court injuction against US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
- The filing alleges that SEC is on a fishing expedition and has not been able to gather any evidence to substantiated their legal action.
- The crypto firm wants the court to stop further demands from SEC.
Binance filed for a protective court injunction against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) late Monday, claiming the regulator’s requests for information were “overbroad” and “unduly burdensome.” The troubled cryptocurrency exchange, filed a protective court order against SEC saying that the authority was on a “fishing expedition”.
In a court filing in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, the U.S. arm of Binance operating under the names BAM Trading Services and BAM Management US Holding stated that the organization had previously supplied adequate information to the regulator. The crypto firm believes that the additional information and documents that the regulator is asking for are inappropriate, unduly burdensome, and well beyond the scope of the Federal Rules and Court Order
The world’s biggest crypto exchange claimed in the filing that SEC is abusing a June court order that allowed for limited expedited discovery, this came after SEC sued it for allegedly operating a “web of deception.”
The protective order seeks, among other things, to limit the SEC to four depositions of BAM employees and to dismiss the depositions of BAM’s CEO and CFO, without identifying anybody. Binance argues that the CEO and CFO do not have unique firsthand knowledge that is relevant.
Binance vs. SEC case
In June, the US regulator sued Binance and CEO Changpeng Zhao for allegedly operating a “web of deception,” alleging the company artificially inflated its trading volumes, diverted customer funds, failed to restrict US customers from its platform, and misled investors about its market surveillance controls.
The complaint further alleged that Binance had grown its US business while announcing to the public its intent to block US customers from accessing the platform. The allegation further stated that Binance told its most valuable US customers how to avoid compliance controls
Binance’s Complaints
“The SEC has still yet to identify any evidence suggesting that customer assets were misused or dissipated in any way,” the petition stated. The crypto firm further argued that it had worked in good faith and had produced an immense amount of information.
According to the complaint, the SEC has rejected BAM’s suggestions to significantly restrict its demands and is opposed to the application for a protective injunction, requesting the court to limit those requests. The crypto firm argues that the request have become untenable, for example, the SEC demanded it produce all communications dozens of topic many of which did not have anything with customer assets, from at least six employees dating back to November.
“The SEC has spent the past 45 days serving incredibly overbroad and unreasonable discovery requests that seek, on their face, every single document in BAM’s possession related to customer assets,” the statement read.
Binance’s war with regulators are far from over. According to Protos, the EU regulators are collaborating with SEC in its investigations because the officials believe the crypto firm has faked caaounts in Ireland and Malta.
