The government wants to know what Binance found out about how FTX works.
A person with knowledge of the situation says that U.S. authorities, including the Department of Justice, have reached out to the cryptocurrency exchange Binance to find out more about its recent talks with FTX about a possible rescue.
The person said that both U.S. and European financial regulators have contacted Binance to find out what its executives have learned this week about how FTX works on the inside.
A Binance representative didn’t want to say anything about the talks. When asked for comment, a Washington-based FTX official didn’t answer right away.
A person familiar with the talks said that Binance, which is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, was thinking about buying FTX as a last resort to save the company from a liquidity crunch that would cost billions of dollars.
But Binance’s due-diligence team found quickly that FTX’s relationship with Alameda Research, a trading company also started by FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, had some unclear conflicts, the person said. And customer funds from FTX seemed to have been used for business, the person said.
Both the business world and the government were worried about the company’s failure.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said in a statement on Thursday, “It is very important that our financial watchdogs look into what caused FTX to fail so that we can fully understand the wrongdoing and abuses that took place.”
Also this week, the top lawyer for FTX US told employees to keep work-related documents. This is another sign that Bankman-crypto Fried’s empire could face legal trouble. Sources told a news source that FTX US General Counsel Ryne Miller told staff on Wednesday to keep emails, messages, notes, and documents related to their work at FTX, FTX US, Alameda, and related companies.
