In filings with the SEC, lawyers from Gibson Dunn and Latham & Watkins allege that Gary Gensler offered to act as an advisor to the cryptocurrency exchange in several conversations with Binance’s CEO and senior executives in March 2019. Gensler met with Changpeng Zhao in Japan in March, the statement said.
At the time, Gensler was teaching at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. He was appointed head of the SEC in 2021 by President Joe Biden, and in the past year, Gensler has hit the crypto industry hard, suing numerous companies for allegedly selling unregistered securities.
Lawyers note that Zhao continued to keep in touch with Gensler after the March meeting. At the request of the future SEC chairman, Zhao interviewed Gensler as part of a cryptocurrency course. Because of this connection, Binance lawyers asked Gensler to refrain from taking action against the company, but did not receive confirmation from the SEC. An SEC spokesperson told CNBC that “the chairman is fully aware of his ethical obligations, including any obligation to recuse himself, and fully complies with them.”
Earlier this week, the SEC filed 13 charges against Binance and Changpeng Zhao. The lawsuit alleges that the company failed to restrict access to its trading floor to US clients, and also “misrepresented critical information, thereby misleading investors regarding its market controls.”
Recently, amid a SEC lawsuit against Binance, the US division of the exchange delisted ten trading pairs and suspended its OTC service.
Source: Bits
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