Media reports recently claimed that Binance fired compliance investigators after they flagged cryptocurrency transactions linked to Iran. The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and Fortune all published similar allegations suggesting the exchange retaliated against staff uncovering potential sanctions violations. Such headlines fueled heated discussion in the industry in terms of the internal compliance culture at the world's largest digital asset platform.
Binance’s leadership has directly addressed these allegations as baseless and false. The exchange has sent formal legal letters to both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times demanding immediate corrections and full retractions of what they describe as defamatory statements. Binance’s executives have now stepped forward to provide their account of the internal investigations and the real reasons behind the recent employee departures.
The Direct Denial from Company Leadership
Company executives categorically reject the narrative that compliance personnel were terminated for doing their jobs. During a recent David Lin Interview, Co-CEO Richard Teng addressed the controversy head-on, "Investigators will not and will never be let go from Binance because of escalating compliance concerns. On the contrary, we need investigators to do a good job at investigating and escalate them quickly so that we can safeguard the platform.”
Teng continued his comments on compliance standards, “What is not being compromised — and we will never compromise — is our upholding of global standards, working with global regulators, upholding the rule of law including on sanctions and counterterrorism financing. Those are extremely important and we continue to invest very heavily.”
The company relies heavily on internal investigators to identify risks and escalate concerns promptly. The entire compliance program, which now encompasses over 1,500 individuals making up roughly 25% of the global headcount, depends on this internal vigilance. Firing people for fulfilling this exact mandate would actively undermine the system the company has spent hundreds of millions of dollars building.
These efforts have led to sanctions-related exposure as a percentage of total exchange volume declined 96.8% from January 2024 to July 2025, from 0.284% to 0.009%.
In response to the media coverage, Binance sent legal letters demanding retractions from the publications involved. Teng characterized the articles as false and misleading reporting that does a great injustice to the compliance program and the professionals running it.
What the Company Says Actually Happened
Addressing the core of the controversy, Binance Chief Compliance Officer Noah Perlman offered a blunt assessment of the retaliation claims. "The idea that we would dismiss employees for raising something — it's just actually preposterous on its face, as evidenced by the fact that the investigation continued, the relevant accounts were offboarded and relevant reporting was made," Perlman explained.
The internal investigation into the flagged accounts did not stop when the specific employees left the firm. The compliance team continued their work, eventually offboarding the relevant entities from the exchange and making the necessary reports to law enforcement agencies. The company argues this proves their compliance program functioned exactly as designed.
Teng reinforced this sequence of events in his public remarks. He stated that the truth was the investigation continued after the departure of the said investigators. Teng described these employees as disgruntled. He noted that Binance completed those investigations, offboarded the relevant entities, and cooperated with the appropriate law enforcement agencies to resolve the matter.
The Data Protection Explanation
If the investigators were not fired for raising compliance concerns, what prompted their exit? The company points directly to strict internal security policies. A Binance blog post claimed that a few compliance employees departed after an internal review found breaches of company data-protection and confidentiality guidelines.
Perlman confirmed this position during his recent interview. He said that "certain individuals were disciplined in connection with the unauthorized disclosure of confidential client information." Binance treats data breaches as serious violations that can result in immediate termination. And, according to Perlman, this applies regardless of an employee's role or seniority.
Binance cannot comment on individual personnel matters due to privacy constraints. But that didn’t stop executives from drawing a sharp distinction regarding the timeline. They said that these specific departures were strictly about policy breaches and mishandling sensitive information—rather than any form of retaliation for their sanctions-related findings. The leadership team insists the dismissals were a matter of enforcing standard corporate data security protocols.
The Record as Binance Presents It
Leadership categorically denies firing anyone for raising compliance concerns regarding sanctions. They point to the ongoing nature of the investigations as primary evidence—noting that the flagged accounts were successfully offboarded and reported to the proper authorities.
According to Binance, the departed employees are disgruntled former staff who breached data protection policies. The exchange reports that their sanctions-related exposure declined by 96.8% between January 2024 and July 2025 to support their broader compliance narrative. Binance also assisted in confiscating over $131 million in illicit funds last year. The firm has formally demanded corrections from the publications involved, maintaining that their compliance infrastructure remains solid and effective.
