The Department of Justice (DOJ) in the US has officially stopped the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to immediately stop writing any letters of appreciation for the global crypto trading platform known as “Binance”. The letters were allegedly used by Binance to influence the investigating officers of the FBI that the firm was actively participating and cooperating with the agency in criminal proceedings/ investigation.
It seems Binance is about to face difficulties in the US after Japan, UK, Italy, France, and the Cayman Islands have refused to facilitate further.
Binance was in the practice of asking for letters of appreciation from law enforcement agencies in the US as well as in other jurisdictions. These letters were in fact issued to Binance on demand by local police as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). In these letters, agencies were thanking Binance for lending full cooperation and support in the prevention of crimes. In addition, the letters also showed that Binance had voluntarily assisted the agency in carrying out criminal proceedings/investigations.
For years, Binance was in this practice until it unintentionally annoyed some of the agents within the FBI. FBI is annoyed as it claims that the firm is bound under the law to cooperate. There is no question of any “voluntary” assisting the agency in any probe, said FBI.
It is reported that the matter of “letters of appreciation” for Binance has been discussed at the Department of Justice (DOJ). The media has then reported that though DOJ has not officially announced, yet it has issued a letter to the FBI in this regard. In this letter, DOJ has stopped the FBI and other relevant crime prevention agencies to immediately stop writing such letters for Binance. Agencies have been informed that they don’t need to issue such recommendations which do not warrant under the law and practice.
DOJ further suggested in the letter that Binance is an entity like any other entity in the US. It is therefore required under the law to cooperate with the crime prevention agencies in accordance with the law. In fact, if a request for a probe will be made to Binance, then Binance is not in a position to deny its cooperation. Therefore, issuing such letters are a worthless exercise that would ultimately gain nothing to the FBI, however, would benefit Binance only.
In the past, these appreciation letters were used by Binance to show their customers that Binance is a law-abiding and responsible company. In fact on some occasions, these letters were shown to FBI officers who came to the firm for investigations. The returning agents then claimed that Binance was impliedly trying to influence them and created hurdles in their investigations.
Meanwhile, Binance too has clarified that similar letters are issued to it by law enforcement agencies of other countries. These letters don’t serve any purpose for the firm except that they appreciate the firm’s efforts in the prevention of crimes.
