Exclusive: Israeli Court Accepts Transaction on Binance as Evidence in Fraud Case

An Israeli court has accepted the transactions on the crypto exchange, Binance as evidence as a part of a temporary procedure, creating a precedent in the industry. The court order also determined that opening an account under a false name with a crypto exchange would be considered a fraudulent offense.

Crypto Transactions Are Admissible to Court as Evidence

In the order against Daria Verlin and Alexander Verlin, the Haifa Magistrate's Court accepted the transaction data from the cryptocurrency exchange for passing a temporary order. Both the defendants are accused of violating Israel's money laundering laws. Alexander Verlin has also been charged with tax fraud.

According to the court documents seen by Finance Magnates, the primary defendant, Alexander Verlin, who has held a Binance account since 2018, allegedly violated Binance's terms and Israeli law by opening crypto exchange accounts first under his wife's name, who is also facing charges, on 1 June 2109 and then under the name of a friend on 26 September 2019. The wife's name appeared in the complaint as a defendant, as the account in her name was opened at her discretion. The defendant carried out trading activities on all the accounts until 26 July 2021.

The court document highlighted that the purpose of opening the additional accounts was to reduce financial activity under the name of the primary accused and to prevent the identification of his business activities. The defendants deposited about NIS 390 million (over $103 million) in all the accounts and withdrew funds from the accounts.

The authorities have already seized the assets of the defendants, which include cash, cryptocurrencies, gold coins, and mobile phones.

The defendants approached the court challenging the submitted evidence, which were transaction records on Binance. However, the Israeli court ordered in favor of the prosecutors, adding that the seized assets should be transferred to the forfeiture fund.

Troubles of Binance

Though acceptance of transaction details from Binance, as evidenced by the Israeli court, might give the exchange legitimacy, it is facing severe regulatory backlash globally. Binance and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, are facing two civil lawsuits in the US brought by the regulators for some serious violations.

Binance, the largest crypto exchange globally in terms of trading volume, deregistered its entities in Cyprus and the United Kingdom and shuttered businesses in The Netherlands. The exchange is facing problems in France and Australia.

Meanwhile, Binance continued its expansion drive and launched services in Japan. It also received a crypto exchange license in El Salvador, becoming the first with such a status quo in the country which accepts Bitcoin as a legal tender.

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