Binance Seeks to
Dismiss October 7 Victims
Lawsuit in SDNY Quoting CZ
Guilty Plea
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE,
Jan 30 – After the October 7,
2023 attacks by Hamas from
Gaza, and CZ's and Binance's
guilty pleas, the latter two
along with Iran and Syria were
sued. Argument on Binance's
motion to dismiss was heard on
January 30 by U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge
John G. Koeltl. Inner City
Press was there, thread:
OK- now at case
against crypto firm Binance,
CZ, Syria and Iran by victims
of Oct 7 attack.
Binance lawyer
[from Cahill Gordon] We are
accused of non-feasance,
failures to prevent money
laundering and to file SARS.
Such cases are routinely
dismissed-
Judge: Not
recently. Judge:
Secondary liability for aiding
and abetting is hard to
dismiss.
Binance lawyer:
Crypto is used by 100 million
people. It is not inherently
dangerous. Binance
lawyer: There was no special
relationship between Hamas and
Binance.
Binance lawyer:
They claim that Zhao [CZ]
admitted to assisting
terrorism - but that's only in
the plea agreement. Helping
users conceal their location
was only to try to keep US
users on the
platform
Judge: It is
breathtaking to take the
position, We accept terrorist
accounts, we treat terrorists
like anyone else.
Binance lawyer:
We don't advertise that. It
was just gallows humor. The
company paid $4 billion for
it, and Mr. Zhou [CZ] went to
jail for it
Binance lawyer:
OK, we allowed a Hamas VIP to
be quietly off-boarded. But
that was in July 2020, long
before the attacks.
Judge: Binance
argues that 18 of the 40
plaintiffs have no standing.
Binance lawyer:
There are Article III
requirements. We are trying to
transfer a case here from
Alabama. Plaintiffs' lawyer:
They are minimizing their
misconduct. Zhou went to
prison.
Plaintiffs'
lawyer: Binance was told,
Hamas is on your platform.
They didn't seize thr funds,
they helped them leave and
told them they were
flagged, facilitating.
Judge
Koeltl: I will rule at a later
date
More on X for
Subscribers
here and on Substack here
The case is
Raanan, et al. v. Binance
Holdings Limited, et al.,
1:24-cv-697 (Koeltl)
***
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