13:43 ET -- Binance is one of the most mentioned companies in the U.S. across all news items in the last 12 hours, according to Factiva data. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday sued the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange and Changpeng Zhao, its founder and controlling shareholder. The lawsuit alleges that in violation of federal securities laws, Binance and Zhao operated an illegal trading platform and misappropriated customer funds by diverting them to Sigma Chain and Merit Peak, third-party entities owned by the Binance CEO. According to the SEC, Sigma Chain placed fraudulent transactions to artificially inflate Binance's trading volume, and Merit Peak hid billions of dollars worth of commingled customer assets. Dow Jones & Co. owns Factiva. (ada.hui@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
06-05-23 1358ET
