Binance, a popular cryptocurrency exchange, has lodged an appeal against a $4.4 million fine imposed by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) in May. The appeal, filed on June 5 in Canada’s Federal Court system, accuses the director of FINTRAC of noncompliance with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) regulations. Last month, FINTRAC announced that it had fined Binance over 6 million CAD, equivalent to approximately $4.4 million, for various violations, including failure to register as a foreign money services business and report digital currency transactions exceeding $10,000.
Binance, in its appeal, argued that it had not specifically targeted Canadian residents with its services. The exchange had previously revealed plans to withdraw from the Canadian market by May 2023, citing unfavorable regulatory conditions. Despite reaching out to Binance for comment, Cointelegraph did not receive a response at the time of publication.
It is important to note that the FINTRAC decision is separate from the legal challenges Binance is facing in other countries. In November 2023, the company agreed to a $4.3 billion settlement with U.S. authorities, which led to the resignation of its then-CEO Changpeng Zhao. Zhao pleaded guilty to one felony charge and is currently serving a four-month prison sentence.
In February, Nigerian authorities detained two Binance executives over allegations of tax evasion and money laundering within the company. Nadeem Anjarwalla, a British and Kenyan citizen, managed to escape Nigerian custody and was located in Kenya at the time of publication. Tigran Gambaryan, a former special agent with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, reportedly contracted malaria while detained in Nigeria.
In other news, Conor Daly, the driver for Polkadot’s Indy 500, expressed his surprise that his father holds DOT, the native token of the Polkadot network.