Whistleblower Lawsuit Accuses Binance of Bribery, Retaliation
November 28, 2024
A former high-ranking Binance employee has filed a whistleblower complaint in the UK, alleging that a colleague solicited a bribe from a customer in exchange for preferential treatment.
Amrita Srivastava, who worked remotely for Binance's Link platform, claims she was unfairly fired after reporting the alleged behavior.
Legal Troubles Continue for Binance
The allegations surfaced during an employment tribunal earlier this week, Bloomberg reported. Srivastava said the colleague accepted the payment under the guise of providing consulting services.
The employee was secretly taking bribes to sign up new clients to the exchange. She also claimed that the individual concealed his affiliation with Binance and has since left the company.
Although Srivastava reported the bribe to her managers in April 2023, she was fired the following month.
Now, Binance Europe Ltd. is suing for alleged retaliation for raising concerns about the incident. The exchange also faced similar allegations from another employee earlier this year.
“Amrita Srivastava, a former Binance employee, is suing Binance UK, claiming she was fired for reporting a bribery scheme. She says someone at Binance took a bribe under the guise of ‘consulting,’ and she wouldn’t have allowed it. She reported it, but a month later, boom—she was fired for ‘poor performance,’” Mario Naval wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Meanwhile, Binance’s legal team argued that the company was already aware of the bribery allegation. However, they maintained that Srivastava’s dismissal was due to poor performance. The legal team pointed to the company’s broader practice of addressing poor performance among employees.
This court hearing is yet another in a long list of legal troubles for Binance. In November 2023, the exchange pleaded guilty to violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws. This led to a record $4.3 billion fine and the resignation of Changpeng Zhao (CZ) as CEO.
Meanwhile, CZ and Binance are facing a separate lawsuit from bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX. According to the lawsuit filed earlier this month, Sam Bankman-Fried fraudulently transferred a portion of $1.8 billion in assets to both CZ and his exchange.
Most recently, CZ served a four-month prison sentence for violating U.S. money laundering laws. He was released in September but still faces several other lawsuits.