Binance’s defamation case against The Wall Street Journal reached a critical stage on Wednesday as U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer heard arguments on the Journal’s motion to dismiss but did not issue an immediate ruling.
The dispute stems from three Wall Street Journal reports that Binance claims falsely linked the departure of compliance staff to internal investigations involving transfers with sanctioned Iranian entities. The exchange argues the reporting created a defamatory implication that it punished investigators for probing suspicious Iran-related transactions and improperly dismantled its internal compliance probe.
Counsel for the Journal, Katherine Bolger, argued that Binance has not met the federal defamation standard of actual malice. She said the exchange mainly relied on denials issued before and after publication, and that editorial decisions about presenting verified information cannot by themselves support defamation claims. The Journal also pointed to similar reporting by The New York Times and Fortune as evidence that its journalists did not knowingly publish false information.
Judge Engelmayer scrutinized 22 disputed statements across the three reports, pressing Binance attorney Christopher Norman Lavigne to explain how individual statements contained factual errors. Binance maintains that its compliance investigation continued after the employees left and that the departures were not retaliation for examining Iranian-linked activity.
The case follows years of U.S. regulatory scrutiny of Binance. In 2023, the exchange reached a major settlement with U.S. authorities and accepted compliance oversight. Former CEO Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to anti-money laundering program failures and was later pardoned by President Donald Trump in October 2025 after serving a four-month sentence.
