Binance CEO CZ Files Defamation Lawsuit Against Bloomberg Publisher in HK
Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, Binance CEO, is suing the Chinese subsidiary of Bloomberg accusing the outlet of defamation after it republished an article using the title “Zhao Changpeng’s Ponzi Scheme.”
CZ filed the lawsuit against Bloomberg Businessweek’s Hong Kong publisher Modern Media Company Limited, an independent entity that licenses Bloomberg content, last July 25.
According to the filing documents, Modern Media published a report that “contained false, malicious and defamatory statements about Zhao and his company, Binance Holdings Limited.”
Originally, the article in question was a published version of a June 23 Bloomberg article titled “Can Crypto’s Richest Man Stand the Cold?” However, the Chinese version was published with the title “Zhao Changpeng’s Ponzi Scheme.” Although the headlines have been changed, Binance has been able to procure and compile the original and was then sent to the court.
On the same day of filing the lawsuit, CZ tweeted and addressed, “Be accountable for your actions.”
Consequently, this is not the first time Binance has sued the media for defamation. 2 years ago, in 2020, Binance also filed a lawsuit against Forbes for the publication of language describing an alleged “Tai Chi” strategy. According to them, the strategy involved Binance setting up a web of corporations to deflect regulatory scrutiny of its U.S. operations to its offshore partners.
In the Philippines, Infrawatch PH, a public policy think tank, has been busy pushing a request to the government to ban the operations of exchange giant Binance in the country. It had recently sent a third request to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It first sent a request to the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) last month asking it to ban and suspend the exchange for illegally operating here. Then almost 3 weeks prior to the SEC letter, Infrawatch also sent a letter to the Deparment of Trade and Industry (DTI).
On the other hand, CZ visited Manila last month and stated that Binance will acquire licenses the virtual assets service provider (VASP) license and the e-money issuer (EMI) license from the BSP. Moreover, the exchange also looks forward to providing scholarships to Filipino students. (Read more: CZ: Binance Philippines Plans to Acquire a Crypto Exchange VASP License from the BSP)
This article is published on BitPinas: Binance CEO CZ Files Defamation Lawsuit Against Bloomberg Publisher in HK
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