According to two people with knowledge of the situation, federal prosecutors are apparently looking into American hedge funds that have transacted with the cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
The Western District of Washington U.S. attorney’s office allegedly served subpoenas on the hedge funds.
Sources claim American Hedge Funds Are Being Investigated by the Justice Department in a Cryptocurrency Case
The Washington Post reports that American hedge funds are being looked into as part of the investigation, which follows a Reuters report from mid-December 2022 that claimed Binance was under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Douglas MacMillan, a contributor to The Washington Post, explains that the U.S. attorney’s office for the Western District of Washington sent subpoenas to the hedge funds.
Two sources who “read one of the subpoenas” and “went on the record to discuss the confidential topic,” according to MacMillan, are cited. The writer goes on to say that subpoenas do not necessarily indicate that investigators will file any charges.
Patrick Hillmann, the chief strategy officer at Binance, told MacMillan that the exchange was in daily contact with “nearly every regulator in the world.” Hillmann and a DOJ representative, however, chose not to comment on the purported probe.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported at the end of December 2022 that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is looking into firms that audit crypto exchange reserves.