Former US Treasury official Greg Monahan replaces Karen Leong as the global money laundering reporting officer of the largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume Binance.
Former US Treasury Criminal Investigator Greg Monahan has joined prominent cryptocurrency exchange Binance to supervise the company’s international Anti-Money Laundering (AML) activities, according to the exchange.
Monahan worked for the US Treasury for nearly 20 years as a member of the Internal Revenue Service’s criminal investigation section before succeeding Karen Leong as the global money laundering reporting officer at Binance.
He was primarily in charge of investigations into tax, money laundering, and other financial crimes. According to his professional profile, he also worked as senior management at Deloitte for a short time.
Monahan stated his work will be focused on Binance’s AML and investigative programs, “as well as enhancing the organization’s contacts with regulatory and law enforcement bodies worldwide,” referring to the exchange’s earlier efforts to support high-profile investigations.
Binance’s international compliance staff and advisory board have grown by 500 percent since 2020, according to the company.
Binance’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao, stated that the team is working to “make Binance and the larger industry a safe place for all participants.”
Karen Leong, the former GMLRO, will remain at Binance as a director to help the company’s compliance initiatives, according to the release.
Binance is stepping up its compliance and anti-money laundering measures in an effort to reach an agreement with regulators who are accusing the exchange of illegal operations all over the world.
CZ recently disclosed the company’s goal of becoming licensed in every country. He summarized, “From now on, we’re going to be a financial institution.”
Binance recently rolled out a tax reporting tool to give its users a means to examine their tax liabilities after limiting leverage trading on its futures platform to 20x.
The exchange is also noted for making high-profile recruits to help it expand its operations in several areas. Binance hired Teana Baker-Taylor, a former HSBC executive, to spearhead its operations in the United Kingdom and Europe last year. HSBC UK is said to have halted credit card payments to Binance since then.
