U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) says the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) should file criminal charges against Binance crypto exchange and Tether for their alleged involvement in financing illegal activities.
Lummis say that she is asking the DOJ to conclude its investigation into Binance and USDT maker Tether and “consider criminal charges” against the two entities after reports that they served as middlemen for Hamas.
Citing a Wall Street Journal report published earlier this month, Senator Lummis says that while “subsequent reports have emphasized that the level of funding reported in the article is likely not accurate,” the DOJ should still take action.
The Wall Street Journal article claimed that Palestinian militant group Hamas had received $130 million in crypto donations. However, blockchain analytics and compliance firm Elliptic reversed these figures, saying there was no evidence that Hamas had received significant donations in cryptocurrencies.
About the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries, Lummis says:
“Crypto assets and distributed ledger technology have the potential to drive responsible innovation in US financial markets. Therefore, we must be careful not to portray all crypto asset intermediaries as suspect when a small handful of bad actors use them for nefarious purposes.
Many crypto asset intermediaries are attempting to comply with U.S. sanctions and anti-money laundering laws, rightly viewing the regulations as necessary to unlock the promise of crypto assets and distributed ledger technology.”
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