Binance filed a defamation lawsuit against Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, on the same day the newspaper published a report claiming the U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether Iran used the world’s largest crypto exchange to move funds in violation of American sanctions.

In the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the company said the newspaper published “false and defamatory statements” about its compliance practices and handling of Iran-linked transactions in an article published on Feb. 23.

In that article, the Journal said Binance fired staff who flagged funds moving through the exchange to sanctioned entities, allegations Binance rejected. The lawsuit says Binance did not fire employees for raising compliance concerns. Staff departures stemmed from alleged breaches of internal data protection policies rather than retaliation, it said.

“Binance categorically did not dismantle any compliance investigation,” a spokesperson for the exchange told CoinDesk. “The WSJ continues to report the same falsities. As a result, we have filed a lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal for defamation.”

In Wednesday’s story, the Journal said DOJ officials contacted individuals with knowledge of the transactions as they gathered evidence tied to cryptocurrencies that moved through the platform. It cited people familiar with the situation. It is unclear whether the department is examining potential wrongdoing by Binance itself or focusing only on customers who used the exchange, it said.

Binance fires back

In a blog post published Wednesday, the exchange addressed the Journal’s February report point by point. It said the $1.7 billion in flagged funds “did not originate at Binance and did not end at Binance,” passing instead through multiple independent intermediaries, with “the vast majority of funds” having “no confirmed Iranian nexus.”

The newspaper had said internal investigators had flagged crypto transfers from Chinese clients into wallets linked to Iranian financing networks. A large share of the funds, more than $1 billion, allegedly flowed through Blessed Trust, a Hong Kong-based payments company that worked with the exchange.

Binance said its investigators were “granted immediate access” to the Blessed Trust account, which “was repeatedly renewed, as confirmed by system logs.”

It says it identified the suspicious activity through information from law enforcement and its own internal investigation, then reported the activity and removed the accounts involved.

Earlier this month, it told a U.S. Senate investigation it found no evidence that accounts on its platform transacted directly with Iranian entities.

“The truth is that Binance’s investigation continued and uncovered a sophisticated, multi-jurisdictional pattern of financial activity spanning Asia, the Middle East, and beyond,” the spokesperson said. “Binance mapped this complex activity, offboarded the relevant user accounts, and reported to law enforcement.”

The company says it “cooperates fully with law enforcement” and employs more than 1,500 staff in compliance and risk roles, equivalent to around 25% of its global headcount.

Legal spotlight

The suit and probe return Binance to the legal spotlight.

In 2020, it sued Forbes for making false allegations against the company. That suit was dropped several months later.

In 2023, the company pleaded guilty to violating U.S. anti-money laundering and sanctions laws and agreed to pay $4.3 billion in penalties. Founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao also pleaded guilty to a related charge and served four months in prison before receiving a presidential pardon in October 2025.

As part of the settlement, Binance operates under a U.S.-appointed compliance monitor. That monitor has also requested records related to the Iranian-linked transfers.

UPDATE (March 11, 13:00 UTC): Adds Binance statement, court case details and details from Journal report starting in third paragraph.