A Brazilian congressional committee has recommended the indictment of four Binance senior executives, including the company's CEO and founder Changpeng Zhao.
The committee, which had been investigating crypto-related Ponzi schemes in Brazil, has the authority to make suggestions, while the ultimate decision to proceed with indictments rests with Brazilian police, according to a report by Bloomberg.
Per the report, the committee has accused Zhao and three local Binance employees of fraudulent management, unauthorized offering or trading of securities, and operating a financial institution without proper authorization.
The committee has also highlighted the cloud of suspicion that surrounds Binance in Brazil, as expressed in a report prepared by lawmaker Ricardo Silva.
Responding to the allegations, Binance said in an email to Bloomberg that it had made serious efforts to actively cooperate with the committee.
The exchange firmly rejected any attempts to target Binance or expose its users and employees to baseless allegations.
The recommendation made by the committee, consisting of 28 lower house representatives, also requests the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office to investigate the tax compliance of Binance's local unit and Binance Capital Management, a separate entity.
Furthermore, the legislators advised Brazil's securities regulator, known as CVM, to probe Binance's sale of derivatives in violation of a stop order. The committee's final report characterized these ongoing transactions as a repeated breach of securities market regulations.
This is not the first time Binance's Brazil unit has encountered regulatory challenges.
The unit is already facing a CVM probe related to its sale of derivatives and had its proposed
Read more on cryptonews.com