Binance said it filed a defamation lawsuit against Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones on the same day the newspaper published a report claiming the U.S. Department of Justice was investigating whether Iran violated U.S. sanctions by using the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange to move funds.
The company said in a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that the newspaper published “false and defamatory statements” about its compliance practices and handling of Iran-related transactions in an article published on February 23.
In a report on Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Justice Department officials contacted individuals with knowledge of the transactions while gathering evidence related to cryptocurrency transferred through the platform. It quoted people familiar with the situation.