Binance has enlisted the expertise of a former attorney from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to mount a defense against the lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
According to Bloomberg, M. Kendall Day has been appointed as Binance’s legal counsel in their ongoing lawsuit with the SEC. His credentials on the Gibson Dunn website indicate that before joining the firm as a partner in its Washington, D.C. branch, Day served as an acting deputy assistant attorney general within the DOJ’s Criminal Division for 15 years.
During his tenure at the DOJ, Day was responsible for overseeing nationwide efforts to combat money laundering as the head of the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section.
Gibson Dunn, as stated on their official website, has provided legal representation to financial institutions entangled in cases involving allegations of money laundering, deferred prosecution agreements, and non-prosecution agreements.
Binance and Binance.US have been actively bolstering their legal team over the past few weeks in anticipation of the forthcoming SEC action. Furthermore, they recently brought George Canellos, a former SEC enforcement official, on board.
Binance’s friction with the SEC
Binance, its CEO Changpeng Zhao, and a linked exchange known as Binance.US have recently accused the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of breaking securities laws and mismanaging customer assets. The SEC’s claims were made public in a press release.
In addition, the SEC is working on a plan to retrieve cryptocurrency that residents of the United States own.
An agreement was reached last week between Binance and the SEC to prohibit the exchange’s employees from accessing Binance.US client funds.
