Crypto giant Binance US moved more than $400 million from its account to a trading firm managed by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao over the first three months of 2021,  Reuters reported today, citing documents.   

According to Reuters, Binance.US, which is not licensed to operate in the US, allowed Binance to have secret access to its bank account, enabling large sums of money to be transferred from it to a trading firm managed by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao. Binance’s banking records and company messages showed over $400 million from Binance.US account at California-based Silvergate Bank was sent in a series of transactions to trading firm Merit Peak. Merit Peak document named Binance CEO Zhao as Manager. Documents showed the transfers to Merit Peak began in late 2020. 

In February 2022,  Wall Street Journal reported The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission launched a probe into potential connections between Binance.US and Merit Peak .  

Reuters reported that multiple executives from Binance.US showed concerns about the outflows because the transfers were taking place without their knowledge.

In late 2020, Catherine Coley, who was then the CEO of Binance.US, contacted a Binance finance executive to request an explanation for some transfers that she found surprising. She expressed in her message that the transfers were unexpected, and that nobody had informed her of them.

One of Coley's messages to the Binance executive inquired about the origin of the funds. According to a Reuters report, the Binance executive, Susan Li, did not provide a clear explanation of the transfers in her response to Coley. Instead, Li stated that Merit Peak was a vendor that facilitated trading on Binance.US and also provided loans and capital injections to the American exchange.

It was unclear why the transfers took place or whether the money belonged to Binance.US customers. The US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission have requested information from Binance and Binance.US about their relationship.