{"id":51363,"date":"2025-11-25T06:06:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T06:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/51363\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T06:06:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T06:06:07","slug":"oct-7-victim-families-sue-binance-over-1b-in-secret-funding-for-hamas-palestinian-terror-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/51363\/","title":{"rendered":"Oct. 7 victim families sue Binance over $1B in secret funding for Hamas, Palestinian terror groups"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 Families of victims of Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel sued Binance Monday, claiming that the world\u2019s largest cryptocurrency trading platform \u2014 and its recently pardoned founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao<\/a> \u2014 helped smooth the transfer of more than $1 billion to the accounts of terror groups responsible for the atrocity.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit was filed on 306 plaintiffs and\u00a0their family members who were murdered, maimed, or taken hostage on Oct. 7 in Israel or in various terrorist acts afterwards. They brought their claims against Binance, Zhao and senior executive Gunagying \u201cHeina\u201d Chen in Fargo, ND federal court.<\/p>\n

The crypto platform had already been subject to criminal enforcement actions by the Department of Justice in 2023, resulting in Binance admitting to charges of money laundering and paying more than $4 billion in fines<\/a> \u2014 as well as a four-month prison sentence for Zhao.<\/p>\n

But the nearly 300-page complaint stated that Binance\u2019s conduct was \u201cfar more serious and pervasive than what the US government disclosed\u201d during those proceedings \u2014 and that the company \u201cknowingly sent and received the equivalent of more than $1 billion to and from accounts and wallets controlled by the [foreign terror organizations] responsible for the October 7 Attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oct. 7 victims\u2019 families sued Binance on Monday, claiming that the world\u2019s largest cryptocurrency trading platform and its recently pardoned founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao helped facilitate more than $1 billion in terror funding. Jaap Arriens\/NurPhoto \/ Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Those include Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to the suit brought by attorneys at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, Osen LLC, Stein Mitchell Beato & Missner LLP, and Motley Rice LLC.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo this day, there is no indication that Binance has meaningfully altered its core business model,\u201d the attorneys said in the suit, alleging the crypto platform was \u201cintentionally designed as a criminal enterprise to facilitate money laundering on a global scale.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ali Mohammad Alawieh, the son of Hezbollah commander Muhammad Abd al-Rasul Alawieh, is the holder of one of the Binance accounts identified in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Ali Mohammad Alawieh, the son of Hezbollah commander Muhammad Abd al-Rasul Alawieh, is one of the Binance accounts identified in the lawsuit. Obtained By the NY post<\/p>\n

He can be seen in photos at the funeral procession for Hezbollah commander Ahmed Shehimi, who was killed by a strike in Syria in March 2024.<\/p>\n

Other accounts were tied to Hamas-linked exchange houses or located inside Gaza \u2014 including a 25-year-old PIJ operative in Khan Yunis who had opened a Binance account in October 2020.<\/p>\n

Photos published by Reuters and Agence France-Presse show the PIJ militant at the May 2021 funeral of a Hamas operative killed by the Israeli military.<\/p>\n

Alawieh can be seen in photos at the funeral procession for Hezbollah commander Ahmed Shehimi, who was killed by a strike in Syria. AFP<\/p>\n

The alleged money laundering scheme laid out in the complaint reveals that some Hezbollah funds were also linked to \u201cillicit gold smuggling\u201d operations \u201cvia cryptocurrency transfers made to Venezuelan and Brazilian\u201d criminal networks.<\/p>\n

One 26-year-old Venezuelan woman who seemingly works for a livestock and agriculture-related firm in Roraima, Brazil, was allegedly serving as a front for that network, moving at least $40 million through a single account identified by the plaintiffs\u2019 lawyers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur investigation shows that Binance built systems designed to evade oversight, using its off-chain network and weak controls to move enormous sums for sanctioned groups,\u201d said Jonathan Missner, managing partner of Stein Mitchell Beato & Missner LLP. \u201cThis platform became a conduit for financing murder, kidnappings, and rocket attacks. The families deserve justice\u2014and the public deserves transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n

A 25-year-old PIJ operative in Khan Yunis who opened a Binance account in October 2020 was later photographed at a Hamas operative\u2019s funeral.<\/p>\n

Zhao remains a majority owner of Binance, which the Oct. 7 victims\u2019 families maintain \u201cknowingly, willfully, and systematically assisted Hamas, the IRGC, Hezbollah, PIJ, and other terrorist groups to transfer and conceal the equivalent of hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars through the Binance platform in support of their terrorist activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The venue for the suit stems from allegations that \u201cBinance customers affiliated with Hamas to execute transactions from IP addresses in the United States, including at least nine operations and at least two transactions executed via IP addresses in Kindred, North Dakota.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe these allegations make clear that Binance bears liability for the October 7 attacks,\u201d added former Bill Clinton and George W. Bush White House official Lee Wolosky, now of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, in a statement.<\/p>\n

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the Binance founder\u2019s clemency in a statement last month, saying CZ \u201cwas prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency,\u201d which was now \u201cover.\u201d AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lawsuit details how Binance knowingly facilitated hundreds of millions of dollars that helped enable those responsible for the atrocities of October 7. When a company chooses profit over even the most basic counter-terrorism obligations, it must be held accountable \u2014 and it will be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The families are seeking both compensatory damages \u201cin amounts to be determined at trial\u201d and treble damages for victims of terror<\/a>.<\/p>\n

President Trump pardoned Zhao<\/a>, known as \u201cCZ,\u201d in October after months of lobbying for the billionaire crypto mogul\u2019s conviction to be wiped away, easing his firm\u2019s return to US markets.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know him. I don\u2019t believe I\u2019ve ever met him,\u201d Trump told reporters when news of the pardon leaked. CBS<\/p>\n

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said CZ \u201cwas prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency,\u201d which was now \u201cover.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou never know if it\u2019s going to happen, or when it\u2019s going to happen, so I was a little bit surprised,\u201d Zhao later told Fox News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know him. I don\u2019t believe I\u2019ve ever met him,\u201d Trump told reporters when news of the pardon leaked. \u201cHe had a lot of support, and they said that what he did is not even a crime, it wasn\u2019t a crime that he was persecuted by the Biden administration and so I gave him a pardon at the request of a lot of very good people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s civil suit cites past reports and federal investigations that showed how little the crypto mogul\u2019s firm cared about cracking down on money laundering.<\/p>\n

Binance\u2019s former chief compliance officer Samuel Lim, when presented with evidence of transactions on the platform financing criminal activity, reportedly said in February 2020<\/a>: \u201cLike come on. They are here for crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBinance\u2019s comically titled Money Laundering Reporting Officer agreed,\u201d the suit noted, \u201ccommenting \u2018we see the bad, but we close 2 eyes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot comment on any ongoing litigation,\u201d a Binance spokesperson told The Post in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, as a global crypto exchange, we comply fully with internationally recognized sanctions laws, consistent with other financial institutions. For context, the heads of the US Treasury\u2019s [Financial Crimes Enforcement Network] and [Office of Foreign Assets Control] have confirmed that cryptocurrency is not widely used by Hamas terrorists. Most importantly, we hope for lasting peace in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 Families of victims of Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel sued Binance Monday, claiming that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[10525,27306,14670,61,15780,9,11,10,87,58,2917],"class_list":{"0":"post-51363","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-cryptocurrency","9":"tag-hezbollah","10":"tag-iran","11":"tag-israel-hamas-war","12":"tag-money-laundering","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-headlines","15":"tag-new-york-news","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-us-news","18":"tag-victims"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}