In 2023 the crypto exchange Binance pleaded guilty to violating anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer laws as well as sanctions violations. The company agreed to pay $4.3 billion, one of the largest corporate fines in U.S. history. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, meanwhile, pleaded guilty to failing to implement proper oversight, and was later sentenced to four months in prison. In response, Zhao agreed to step down as CEO of Binance, and the company consented to government-imposed monitorships, pledging to enter a new phase of “regulatory maturity.”
Binance, however, appears to be reneging on its promise. According to multiple sources and internal documents viewed by Fortune, investigators on the company’s compliance team uncovered evidence that entities tied to Iran had received more than $1 billion through the exchange from March 2024 through August 2025, in potential violation of sanctions laws. The transactions routed through Binance using the stablecoin Tether on a blockchain known as Tron.
After the investigators surfaced the findings through internal reports, at least five were fired starting in late 2025, according to the sources, who spoke with Fortune on the condition of anonymity owing to fear of legal repercussions. At least three of the investigators came from law enforcement backgrounds in Europe and Asia. Several held leadership roles at Binance and were in charge of special and global financial investigations, including those related to sanction evasions and counter-terror financing.
The exact reason for their firings could not be determined. Several of the former staffers publicly announced they were leaving Binance on LinkedIn and did not specify the circumstances of their departure. Each of them declined to comment. Subsequent to publication of this article, Binance stated no investigators had been fired for reporting potential sanctions violations, and that, “Following internal review, and based on the advice of qualified legal counsel, we found no evidence that Binance violated applicable sanctions laws in connection with the activity referenced.”
And beyond the firings of the investigators, at least four top compliance staff have left or been pushed out over the past three months, according to the sources and publicly available information.
“That’s rather shocking that that happened under a monitorship with [Binance] internal investigators,” Robert Appleton, a partner at the law firm Olshan Frome Wolosky who led sanctions- and Iran-related cases at the DOJ, told Fortune.
The timing of the firings coincides with a number of U.S. political developments that benefited Binance. Those include President Donald Trump’s rollback of crypto oversight and his decision in October to grant Zhao a pardon for his 2023 guilty plea. The pardon came after Zhao’s team hired lobbyists in Washington, D.C., and after Binance helped the Trump family’s crypto project, World Liberty Financial, launch its own stablecoin.
News of Binance firing the compliance staff also comes as the firm is seeking a replacement for Noah Perlman, a former U.S. prosecutor who serves as chief compliance officer, and arrived as a high-profile hire for Binance in 2023. Perlman is still with the company. According to a source familiar with the matter, who spoke with Fortune on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal company dynamics, Perlman plans to transition out of the company later this year. His plans aren’t connected to the firings of the investigators, the source said.
“As a matter of policy, we cannot comment on ongoing investigations. Binance is committed to complying with all applicable sanctions laws and regulations in the markets where it operates,” a Binance spokesperson said in a statement, adding that the company cannot comment on specific personnel cases and that employees who breach company policy are subject to dismissal.
“We continue to work closely with law enforcement partners to protect our users and the wider ecosystem. Our core expertise and teams driving these efforts remain in place,” the statement continued.
A new compliance approach
Founded in 2017, Binance quickly rose to become the world’s leading crypto exchange. But with that astronomic growth came a flood of regulatory and legal concerns. Amid an investigation from the DOJ into the exchange’s operations, Binance instituted a campaign to reform its image, including building out its compliance team with star law enforcement officials from around the world.
When the DOJ announced its settlement with Binance in November 2023, prosecutors stated that the company and its cofounder, Zhao, had prioritized wealth over regulatory compliance and facilitated billions of dollars in illegal transactions between users in countries like Iran, Cuba, and Syria. “A corporate strategy that puts profits over compliance isn’t a path to riches; it’s a path to federal prosecution,” wrote Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco.
Zhao agreed to step down as CEO, and the company said in a blog post that the settlement allowed Binance to “turn the page on a challenging yet transformative chapter of learning and growth.” Shortly after, Binance promoted Richard Teng, a former financial regulator in Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, to CEO. One year later, in November 2024, Binance announced plans to increase its staff of full-time compliance employees by 34% to 645 by the end of the year.
On its job listing platform, Binance is still hiring for over a dozen compliance roles.
Editor’s note: This story was updated on February 15 to include new information supplied by Binance.
Are you a current or former Binance employee or have information about the company? You can contact Leo Schwartz on Signal at 856-872-2064 or Ben Weiss on Signal at @bdanweiss.123.
