Several Binance executives resign amid CZ’s handling of DOJ probe: report

Several senior Binance executives are reportedly on the run en masse as the company grapples with a massive lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a Justice Department investigation into its CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ).

One executive — former chief strategy officer Patrick Hillman — has already confirmed his departure.

Chaos in the ranks of Binance?

A reports Fortune reported on Thursday that general counsel Han Ng and SVP for compliance Steven Christie said they are leaving the company this week, along with Hillman.

His exit follows the recent resignation of former IRS agent Matthew Price, who served as Binance’s head of global intelligence and investigations. A person familiar with the matter told Fortune that the departure was a response to CZ’s response to the DOJ’s investigation of itself and its exchange.

In a lawsuit against the firm last month, the SEC alleged that Binance had misappropriated customer assets on its international platform, US platforms and among other Zhao-controlled firms, while also violating sanctions laws.

Binance has fought such claims made by both regulators and media outlets for years. Countering such narratives has often been Patrick Hillman himself, who in May criticized Reuters for claiming that Binance was mixing customer funds with its corporate coffers.

“It is true that I am leaving Binance, but I am doing so on good terms,” Said Hillman on Twitter on Thursday. The executive explained that his wife was soon to give birth to their second child, so he thought it was “the right time to step aside.”

“I will continue to respect and support him and am grateful for the incredible opportunity to serve under his leadership,” he added.

Hillman also criticized rumors about “massive layoffs” at Binance in June, claiming the company was not “rightsizing” but rather “re-assessing roles” as part of a regular “talent density audit”. ” Was getting it done.

cz answers

Like many Binance rumors, CZ responded to reports about the executive departure with the number ‘4’ – a crypto slang term coined by Zhao to denigrate the FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) surrounding his exchange.

4. More information about some departures. Yes, there is turnover (in every company). But the reasons stated by “News” are completely wrong.

As an organization that has grown from 30 to 8000 people in 6 years, from 0 to the world’s largest crypto exchange in less than 5 months…

— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) 6 July 2023

“Yes, there is turnover (in every company). But the reasons cited by the “news” are completely wrong, he wrote on Twitter. “As the global environment for markets and crypto changes, as our organization evolves, and as individual circumstances change, turnover occurs in every company.”

The CZ said the officers did not resign in a single week. “They tend to exaggerate everything,” he said.