Banking and Finance Law Daily Wrap Up, OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATION—Senators raise money laundering concerns on Binance, Turkish bank, (Apr 3, 2026)

By Nora Macaluso

A pair of Democratic senators raised concerns about money laundering and financing involving cryptocurrency exchange Binance and a Turkish state-owned bank.

Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said he’s concerned Binance “may have provided misrepresentations or misleading information” to Congress and the public about “reported money laundering and terrorist financing by its partners and customers.”

Blumenthal, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), sent a letter to Binance’s co-chief executive officer, Richard Teng, requesting answers to a series of questions about the company’s dealings.

“I am concerned that Binance has not taken sufficient action to prevent your platform from directly and indirectly facilitating illicit finance to Iran and Russia, despite agreements with the Department of Justice and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network,” the senator said.

Blumenthal is investigating the illicit use of cryptocurrencies by sanctioned parties, and in February asked Binance for details why the exchange chose to suspend or terminate some employees who discovered illicit Iranian and Russian use of the platform.

The senator said Teng’s response to his letter “denied and appeared to minimize reported money laundering and terrorist financing” on the part of the company’s partners and customers.

“Based on subsequent reporting, I am concerned that Binance may have provided misrepresentations or misleading information to the Subcommittee and to the public,” he wrote to Teng, asking that the company “produce all records requested” in that earlier letter, dated Feb. 24, 2026.

Those records included information related to reportedly illicit transfers from two Binance partners, Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust, as well as reported retaliation against staffers who attempted to address the issue.

“While Binance has denied knowledge of money laundering or retaliation against staff, it did not provide the information or documents requested by PSI,” and instead “sought to downplay its cryptocurrency dealings with Iran,” while press reports have raised “obvious red flags,” Blumenthal said.

Halkbank query. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), meanwhile, sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent asking for information on the Trump administration’s pausing of an ongoing investigation into Turkish bank Halkbank.

“I seek to understand whether political interference influenced the Department of Justice’s prosecution of Halkbank,” Wyden, the ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, wrote to Bessent.

The Department’s “favorable agreement” with the bank came even as Halkbank officials “admitted to evading sanctions and funneling Iranian oil profits” and “as Iran and its proxies terrorize the Middle East and threaten Americans at home,” Wyden said.

“That this Administration has chosen to wage war on the Iranian regime, while at the same time abandoning prosecution of an entity that materially aided that same regime is nothing short of rank incompetence,” he said.

Wyden asked Bessent for information about the Treasury’s role in enforcing U.S. sanctions and laws, including whether the Department made any recommendation to the DOJ regarding potential fines against Halkbank, and whether Treasury officials communicated with Turkish officials or Halkbank representatives.

Companies: Binance; Blessed Trust; Halkbank; Hexa Whale

LegislativeActivity: BankSecrecyAct CrimesOffenses FinTech OversightInvestigations