A former senior employee at Binance has reportedly filed a lawsuit against the cryptocurrency exchange’s United Kingdom arm, making allegations including bribery and unfair dismissal.
According to a Nov. 28 Bloomberg report, former Binance employee Amrita Srivastava sued the crypto exchange in the UK, claiming that another worker solicited bribes from a customer. She alleged that she was unfairly dismissed from her position a month after bringing the matter to management’s attention in April 2023.
Srivastava alleged that the unnamed Binance employee accepted the bribe “under the guise of providing consultative services.” An exchange spokesperson reportedly said the alleged bribe “was already known,” and Srivastava’s employment was terminated for “poor performance” at the firm.
“I was not prepared to look the other way when someone had defrauded a customer and yet was still a part of the team — some things are just right and wrong, and asking for a bribe and defrauding a customer was not a gray area — it is most definitely wrong,” said Srivastava according to the report.
It’s unclear how the lawsuit will proceed in the UK court system. Plaintiffs arguing unfair dismissal in the UK may receive up to roughly $150,000 if successful in court, while for whistleblowers, the compensation can be unlimited.
The exchange faces legal battles in the US
In the United States, Binance has been embroiled in a lawsuit with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) since June 2023 over unregistered securities offerings. The exchange settled with US authorities over “civil regulatory enforcement actions” — excluding the SEC case — in November 2023.
As part of the US settlement, Binance agreed to pay $4.3 billion and have then-CEO Changpeng Zhao step down and plead guilty to one felony charge. Zhao served four months in federal prison and was released in September.
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