NYT: Two Binance Employees Detained in the UAE
In the United Arab Emirates, two employees of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange have been detained in recent weeks amid police investigations into possible financial crimes on the platform. The New York Times reported this, citing four people familiar with the situation; the story was picked up by Channel NewsAsia.
According to two of the NYT’s sources, the employees were detained at airports in the Emirates. It is currently unclear exactly what issues the UAE authorities are investigating, the newspaper noted.
In a statement to Reuters, Binance said that a small number of its employees had been asked to provide explanations to UAE authorities. The company described this as routine checks of third-party fund flows through Binance’s client funds account.
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According to Binance, the employees were not the subjects of the investigation and were released after providing explanations. The company also reported that it is cooperating with the Dubai police and authorities in other emirates to establish coordination procedures. Binance received a license to operate in Dubai in 2022.
In 2024, Nigerian authorities charged Binance and its then-head of financial crime prevention, Tigran Gambaryan, with laundering over $35 million. Gambaryan and the exchange denied these allegations.
