With several twists and turns, Binance.US's legal battle with the SEC continues.
Binance.US, the United States-based crypto exchange, has filed legal documents challenging the demands of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The attorneys for BAM Trading Services, the entity operating Binance.US, have described the SEC's motion to compel as "unduly burdensome" and "unreasonable."
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The court filings from BAM attorneys, submitted on September 12th, openly critique the SEC's demands for additional information from Binance.US. According to the legal documents, the SEC’s push to secure depositions from BAM’s CEO Brian Shroder and Chief Financial Officer Jasmine Lee was categorized as "unreasonable."
In the documents, the attorneys behind Binance.US claim that the SEC did not "identify any evidence" proving that Shroder and Lee have anything to do with the daily operations of customer assets.
The attorneys also argued that both the CEO and CFO of BAM had "no unique knowledge" about "the limited topics identified in the consent order’s expedited discovery provision."
Additionally, the legal team for Binance.US highlighted that BAM had already offered alternative witnesses with deeper operational insights, including BAM’s Chief Information Security Officer Erik Kellogg. They noted:
The burden imposed by these depositions far outweighs their potential benefit, and the discovery sought is disproportionate to the needs contemplated by the consent order.
The attorneys also critiqued the SEC’s claims by stating there was "no evidence to support its unsubstantiated allegations," thus dismissing claims that customer assets may have been misappropriated.
It is worth noting that the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Changpeng Zhao and Binance.US in June, claiming that the company was operating as an unregistered securities exchange and broker.
Binance.US has responded assertively to the SEC's requests for additional information and depositions, challenging the regulatory agency's demands as unreasonable and out of proportion with the initial consent order. This development marks a contentious moment in the ongoing legal scrutiny facing the cryptocurrency exchange in the United States.
