The latest news updates revealed that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission plans to depose some top executives at Binance.US exchange in the legal brawl between the two entities. However, the exchange moved to stop the action as it filed a motion in court accusing the commission of overstretching the discovery obligations granted by the consent order agreement between them.
While still in its pretrial phase, the brewing legal brawl between the American regulator, SEC, and the US branch of Binance exchange, Binance.US, and the CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, has continued to stir up attention. The latest saga occurred when the defendant filed a motion against the commission for trying to over-push their discovery obligations.
In June, both SEC and Binance.US reached a consent order agreement to prevent the total freeze of digital assets in possession of the exchange. However, alongside the deal is the obligation that Binance.US has to give the SEC access to its account books for discoveries and also comply with restricted expedited discovery.
Nonetheless, the latest report shows that the Binance.US exchange is uncomfortable with how the agreement is proceeding. The defendant complained in the motion document that the SEC is trying to overdo the limited discovery agreement, turning it into a fishing voyage.
Binance.US Tries To Stop SEC’s Expansive Discovery Attempts
In the moti9n filed yesterday, Binance.US claimed that the commission recently asked for all communications logs as far back as November last year from six of its top executives, including Brian Shroder and Jasmine Lee, the firm’s CEO and CFO, respectively. In addition, the defendant stated that the commission also requested that the six officials be available for interrogation, which is against their initial agreement.
And in response to the latest development, Binance.US petitioned the court for a protective order to restrict the expansive discovery attempts the SEC makes. The exchange claimed that in good faith, hoping for a subtle outcome of the potential lawsuit, it has cooperated with the plaintiff, providing files and information on many concepts, including clients’ accounts, payment processors and banks, etc.
However, the firm stated that the latest request of the commission is beyond the coverage of the limited expedited discovery they agreed to. Furthermore, Binance.US noted that the range of their agreement is limited to information and documents on customers’ assets. It added that it is ready to comply with communication requests regarding issues enveloped within the discovery order horizon.
In addition, Binance.US asserted that it is also set to avail all its top executives with necessary information regarding clients’ asset security for interrogation by the commission. However, it rejects the idea of deposing its CEO and CFO, claiming they do not have sufficient knowledge on the related topics, unlike the officials the firm wants to present.
Binance Seeks To Shake Off Lawsuits From SEC and CFTC
The exchange continued that the efforts of the commission towards deposing Shroder and Lee would cost the exchange avoidable expenses and also alter the modus operandi of its operation.
Meanwhile, reports revealed that the ongoing lawsuit the SEC filed against Binance.US has significantly affected the operation of the exchange, as the exchange stated that it recently lost one of its primary banking backers due to the lawsuit.
The exchange was reportedly left with no option than to use the crypto-only model as it no longer has fiat currency access due to the severed partnership. In addition, the impact of many market makers has drastically affected the price of many digital assets on the platform multiple times.
Meanwhile, reports revealed that the Binance.US CEO, Brian Shroder, has been exceptionally calm even as the exchange faces more regulatory problems. Binance is trying to shake off the charges against it by the SEC and CFTC in America.
Also, the speculators revealed that the fishing expedition the exchange seeks to stop the SEC from embarking on might stir more charges against the exchange. Furthermore, the attempt of Binance.US to prevent the commission from expanding its discovery boundary has raised concerns about the winning probability of the exchange should the court case proceed.