SEC Pursues 'Alternative Means' to Serve Legal Documents to Binance CEO
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is looking for other ways to serve legal papers to Binance and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), whose location is often hard to track down.
In a legal filing with the District Court in the District of Columbia on Thursday, the regulator noted that neither Binance nor its executive is known for revealing “the premise of a headquarters or domicile,” and labeled each as “not the typical foreign entity and individual,” according to Bloomberg.
As such, the SEC seeks, “alternative means” of issuing legal papers to Zhao and Binance, primarily by sending copies of its documents to the attorneys representing each party.
“Zhao is famously protective of revealing his whereabouts,” the filing added.
CZ has often boasted that Binance’s refusal to settle headquarters in any particular jurisdiction is what makes it resilient.
In a blog post last year, the CEO explained how Binance chose to adopt a remote working model open to global workers after all exchanges were ordered to cease operations in China in September 2017, shortly after the exchange was launched.
Though CZ was born in China, he is a Canadian citizen, and asserts that Binance is not a Chinese company, nor does it own any legal entities in the country.
CZ was issued a summons by the U.S. District Court on Wednesday, to which he was ordered to respond within 21 days of receiving it. It does not require him to appear in person.
The SEC filed a 136-page lawsuit against Binance earlier this week including a range of accusations related to securities violations and market manipulation. One of its claims is that Binance and CZ secretly control their American subsidiary, Binance US, even though the latter is meant to be an independent
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