The Worldwide Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has revealed hyperlinks between crypto accounts on big-name exchanges like Binance, OKX, HTX, Bybit, and Kraken and numerous worldwide legal organizations.
The ICIJ’s Coin Laundry report discovered that Binance facilitated at the least $408 million price of tether (USDT) transactions for the organized crime-linked Huione Group between July 2024 and July 2025.
As such, the ICIJ claims Binance profited from these funds between the responsible plea of its former CEO, Changpeng Zhao, and his pardon in October.
Zhao’s plea deal resulted in him stepping down as CEO whereas the change was positioned below the inspection of displays. He just lately prompt that if Binance had been ever allotted a “refund” for the $4.3 billion high quality, he would reinvest it “in America.”
The ICIJ additionally discovered that OKX buyer accounts obtained $226 million price of USDT from Huione within the months after it pleaded responsible to working an unlawful cash transmitter.
Over $161 million was obtained after the US Treasury designated the Huione Group as a “primary money launderer” in Could.
The Cambodia-based monetary conglomerate is behind a Telegram-based market fashionable with the rip-off business in Southeast Asia and helps human traffickers and scammers launder funds.
Huione reportedly funneled roughly $1 million price of USDT a day to buyer accounts on Binance, and has continued to take action regardless of the US designation in Could.
The ICIJ additionally discovered that rip-off funds had been being despatched to accounts on Justin Solar’s HTX, Bybit, and {that a} prime member of a Russian-speaking crime community was arranging bulk crypto transactions from a Kraken account.
It additionally labored with the tracing agency Chainargos to disclose that 5 Binance deposit addresses obtained a spike of over $900 million from crypto swapping platform THORChain.
This occurred as North Korea hackers moved the proceeds of the $1.5 billion Bybit hack.
Nevertheless, it famous there’s no proof that the accounts had been operated by North Korean cash launderers. Regardless, blockchain analysts instructed ICIJ that Binance ought to have realised these THORChain funds had been probably made up of the Bybit hack proceeds.
ICIJ’s findings go deep
The broader Coin Laundry report is a part of an ICIJ investigation that collaborated with numerous Blockchain analysts and over 100 journalists throughout 37 worldwide media companions to evaluate the extent to which the crypto business is utilized by criminals.
Different experiences dive into the spectrum of crypto regulation throughout the globe, the shadowy companies of crypto-to-cash storefronts, and the schemes of a multi-million greenback crypto scammer making an attempt to make the most of Hollywood to advertise their newest crypto metaverse.
As a part of the ICIJ’s report into crypto exchanges and illicit funds, it claimed, “The findings raise questions about whether exchanges are doing enough to stop illicit flows, either by freezing funds, closing accounts or carefully monitoring suspicious transactions.”
The report additionally highlights the determined circumstances victims of crypto scams discover themselves in, the shortage of sources crypto exchanges are allocating to compliance departments, and the instruments supplied to different legal networks, together with Mexican cartels and Chinese language fentanyl traffickers.
In response to the ICIJ’s query about Huione Group transactions, Binance claimed it really works carefully with legislation enforcement, it can’t block deposits, and that “users who transact with this service are subject to investigation by our compliance department, and appropriate action will be taken if any potential illicit activities are identified.”
