Changpeng Zhao, founder and former CEO of CryptoBeurs Binance, has submitted an official request for a lawsuit of 1.76 billion dollars. This case was brought by the bankruptcy of FTX, the Crypto Fair collapsed in 2022 by Sam Bankman-Fried.
According to Zhao’s lawyers, American courts have no jurisdiction in this matter. Zhao lives in the United Arab Emirates and, according to his defense, has no significant ties with the state of Delaware, where the case serves. In addition, the indictment would be inadequate because he would have been incorrectly summoned as a non-American citizen.
Legal battle on stock buying
Zhao states in the petition: “The laws that the claimants want to enforce do not apply to transactions that took place outside the US.” His legal team emphasizes that the complaint fails on several points and must therefore be rejected.
The lawsuit, which was filed in November 2024 by FTX Digital Markets Ltd. And the legacy of FTX Trading is all about reclaiming cryptoactiva worth 1.76 billion dollars. These assets would have been transferred to Binance in July 2021 in the context of a share purchasing, where FTX gave a 20% interest back in Binance.
FTX claims fraud in transaction
The bankruptcy of FTX states that the return was fraudulent. According to the prosecutors, the transaction was financed with FTX issued by FTT tokens and Binance’s own busd, which later turned out to be darkened from customer deposits. The restructuring team tries to retrieve the amount to compensate creditors for the losses they suffered after the fall of FTX.
Zhao’s lawyers fight the claims and point out that their client has never received the aforementioned funds directly. They state that Zhao only one “Nominal signer” Was at the transfer and not the actual recipient of the assets. The team also refers to earlier requests for rejection of other Binance directors.
Roll Zhao at Downfall FTX
The indictment goes beyond the stock buying. Zhao is also accused of destabilizing FTX, among other things by a tweet in November 2022. According to the prosecutors, this message would have caused a wave of customer admissions, which eventually perished.
During the trial against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, Caroline Ellison, former CEO of Alameda Research, stated that Alameda had to borrow more than 1 billion dollars to customer money to finance Binance return. The prosecutors state that FTX and Alameda were already technically bankrupt before the deal took place.
Aftermath and decision court
Bankman-Fried was sentenced in March 2024 to 25 years in prison for fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. Zhao himself was imprisoned for four months in the US, after a debt for violation of anti -money laundering rules, part of a settlement of 4.3 billion dollars between Binance and US regulators.
The judge must soon decide whether the lawsuit against ZHAO will be continued or whether the request for seponation will be honored. This statement can have major consequences for the further settlement of the FTX bankruptcy and for the cryptomarkt as a whole.
Source: https://newsbit.nl/changpeng-zhao-wil-miljardenclaim-van-ftx-laten-seponeren/
