Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal has formally requested the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Treasury Department to provide a detailed update on the independent compliance monitors overseeing cryptocurrency exchange Binance. This inquiry stems from Binance's November 2023 guilty plea for operating as an unlicensed money transmitter and violating international sanctions, which resulted in a settlement requiring the exchange to pay over $4 billion in penalties and retain an independent monitor for three years.
Senator Blumenthal, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent letters to Andrea Gacki, director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. The letters cite recent media reports from The New York Times, Fortune, and The Wall Street Journal alleging that Binance facilitated billions of dollars in sanctions evasion for entities linked to Iran. The reports specifically named two of the exchange's partners, Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust, as intermediaries in money laundering operations.
The Senator's demands include information on whether the monitors—Frances McLeod (reporting to the DOJ) and Sharon Cohen Levin (reporting to FinCEN)—have submitted reports of misconduct and all related documentation. He also referenced 2025 reports indicating Binance was negotiating with the DOJ for an early exit from the monitorship. A separate point of concern is the allegation that compliance employees who investigated Iranian transactions were disciplined or fired, a claim Binance has rejected.
In a parallel development, Blumenthal, alongside Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Adam Schiff, is investigating the DOJ's decision to drop criminal charges against Turkish state-owned bank Turkiye Halk Bankasi (Halkbank) without imposing fines. This lenient settlement, which allowed the bank accused of laundering billions for Iran to pay $0 and admit no wrongdoing, has drawn sharp criticism for potentially depriving American victims of Iranian-linked terrorism of compensation.
The letters set a response deadline of April 24, 2026. Blumenthal has also separately questioned Binance Co-CEO Richard Teng about the exchange's failure to provide full material requested by the Subcommittee and internal policies, citing reports that over $1.7 billion in crypto flowed through Binance to Iran-linked wallets and that internal warnings sometimes labeled risky accounts with notes like "Don't block. Internal accounts."
