A former senior employee has sued the UK arm of the world’s largest crypto exchange Binance Holdings for whistleblowing. She alleged that a colleague asked for a bribe from a customer for preferential treatment, but she was fired last year after reporting the incident to her managers.
Former Employee Sues Binance Europe
Amrita Srivastava, a London-based senior employee, has reached out to employment tribunal to file a lawsuit against Binance Europe Ltd, reported Bloomberg on November 28. She also pointed out that Binance was focused on filling a “revenue gap” in Link’s revenue after identifying that a customer with ties to Iran earlier provided a quarter of the unit’s service revenue.
She was unfairly dismissed after raising concerns about an alleged bribery with her managers, alleged Srivastava. Srivastava claimed that a co-worker took bribery “under the guise of providing consultative services” to immediately provide a customer’s exposure to Binance, pretending that he didn’t work for the company. The co-worker has since left the firm.
She was terminated by her managers a month later after reporting the bribery incident in April 2023. However, lawyers said she lost her job for poor performance.
“The decision to end her employment for poor performance pre-dated concerns she raised about an issue that was already known and under investigation by our internal audit team,” Binance said in a statement. The firm has a culture of filtering out under performers.
Srivastava worked remotely on Binance’s Link platform. It connects external brokers and customers to the crypto exchange. Srivastava joined Binance in April 2022 after a stint at Mastercard Inc. where she was head of fintech coverage for western Europe.
Interestingly, whistleblowers get unlimited awards at the UK’s employment tribunal, but unfair dismissal is capped at £105,700.
Exchange Faced Scrutiny and Lawsuits in the US
Binance continued to be under intense scrutiny from US government agencies including the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). However, the exchange has gained partial win in the SEC lawsuit as a district judge ruled that BUSD and BNB sales are not securities.
CoinGape reported on Wednesday that the US SEC was granted permission to submit a 70-page response to Binance’s dismissal motion, with the court’s decision still pending. The SEC argues most crypto asset transactions, including secondary market resales, qualify as securities transactions based on potential value increases.
The SEC’s response is due by December 4. Both Binance and BAM have indicated they do not oppose the SEC’s request. Last month, the U.S. District Court issued a scheduling order extending the Binance lawsuit to 2026.
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