الكاتب: kafej

The founder of the world’s largest crypto exchange has stepped down – and pleaded guilty to breaking anti-money laundering laws.

Changpeng Zhao’s shock departure from Binance comes as part of a $4bn (£3.2bn) settlement that has been reached with US regulators.

It is the culmination of a multi-year investigation into the trading platform, and the billionaire – known as “CZ” – is set to be sentenced next year.

The case bears similarities to the collapse of FTX, which was the world’s second-largest exchange – and Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty on fraud charges earlier this month.

Bankman-Fried was convicted of misusing billions of dollars in funds belonging to customers, and now faces the prospect of spending decades behind bars.

In court on Tuesday, Zhao admitted that he had failed to take steps to prevent money laundering at Binance.

The embattled entrepreneur lives in the United Arab Emirates, which does not have an extradition treaty with the US.

But his lawyer told a court in Seattle: “He decided to come here and face the consequences. He’s sitting here. He pled guilty.”

Zhao has also vowed to return when he is sentenced, telling the judge: “I want to take responsibility and close this chapter in my life. I want to come back. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here today.”

In separate developments, the US Securities and Exchange Commission sued Binance and Zhao in June – accusing the company of artificially inflating trading volumes, diverting customer funds, and misleading investors.

This is the latest setback for the sector, which has been left reeling after a slew of controversies and hacks.

Major cryptocurrencies – including Bitcoin and Ether – fell as markets digested the news.

Reports also suggest that Binance customers are pulling funds from the platform.

White House had reversed designation against rebel group in 2021 to help get aid to war-torn Yemen.

The White House says it is considering redesignating Yemen’s Houthi rebels as a “terrorist” group after they claimed the seizure of a commercial ship in the Red Sea.

United States National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on Tuesday condemned the seizure, calling it the “piracy of a ship in international waters”, and accused the Houthis of “recent targeting of civilians”. The Red Sea is home to one of the world’s most vital trade routes through the Strait of Hormuz.

US President Joe Biden’s administration formally delisted the Houthis as a “foreign terrorist organization” and “specially designated global terrorists” in 2021, undoing a move by former President Donald Trump. The United Nations and aid groups had criticised the designations, saying their restrictions complicated aid deliveries to war-torn Yemen.

The Houthis – an Iran-backed group that controls large swathes of northern Yemen and the capital, Sanaa – have carried out attacks on Israel in recent weeks, launching missiles and drone attacks and threatening to seize Israeli vessels in the Red Sea.

Houthi forces raided a ship named Galaxy Leader on Sunday.  Houthi General Ali Al-Moshki said in later remarks on television: “Israeli ships are legitimate targets for us anywhere.”

The ship is operated by a Japanese firm and has links to Israeli businessman Abraham “Rami” Ungar.

The crew of that ship, composed of 25 workers from numerous countries, continue to be held by the Houthis. Kirby called for their immediate and unconditional release and accused Iran of being complicit in such attacks.

The raid, which analysts have said mirror tactics used by Iran, has raised alarm that the Houthis could step up such attacks in the Red Sea.

The group considers itself a member of the “axis of resistance”, a network of armed groups throughout the region backed by Iran and hostile to Israel and the US.

That Biden administration’s reversal of the “terror” designations for the Houthis was made to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to Yemen, where the group has been locked in conflict with the government and a Saudi-backed coalition since 2015.

The Biden administration has considered redesignating the Houthis as a “terrorist” group at least one other time since then after drone and missile attacks on the United Arab Emirates claimed by the group.

Northern Gaza’s last running hospital is being targeted by Israeli forces. With hundreds of people trapped, including medical staff and those injured, here is a look at the current conditions inside the Indonesian Hospital.

Israel has kept up its relentless bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip amid growing signs that talks about a truce between Israel and Hamas are making progress.

In Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza where hundreds of thousands of residents of the north have fled to escape Israeli bombing, neighbours said on Tuesday that an overnight strike on an apartment had killed seven people, mostly children.

In Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip and in Rafah in the south, Tuesday morning brought tragically familiar scenes of adults and children wounded in bombardments being rushed into overcrowded hospitals.

The Hamas government press office said there was a communications blackout in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip after an Israeli strike hit telecommunications towers.

Israel has bombarded Gaza since October 7 after Hamas fighters carried out attacks that day on southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 240 captive, according to Israeli officials.

More than 14,000 people have been killed in the Israeli air and ground assault on Gaza, including 5,600 children, according to Palestinian officials.

The leader of Hamas said a truce with Israel was close to being finalised, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hoped for good news soon about the captives in Gaza. The statements were the most optimistic signals so far of a deal to pause the war in Gaza and free prisoners.

US President Joe Biden told reporters that an accord to release some of the people held by Hamas was near. “My team is in the region shuttling between capitals. We’re now very close, very close to bringing some of these hostages home very soon,” he said.

Those covering war appear to be being ‘systematically eliminated’

A terrible realisation hit us when the news dropped about more Lebanese journalists killed on the southern border with Israel this morning.

We had met and talked to them as we were filming and gathering evidence about allegations that journalists and civilians are being deliberately targeted.

Reporter Farah Omar, who worked for Al Mayadeen TV and has appeared in the channel’s promotional videos about covering the war, waited politely until we’d finished doing our filming.

We were interviewing journalist Samir Ayoub, who’s still mourning the death of four of his family in an Israeli strike on the car they were travelling in. Then she approached me and we chatted.

She and her crew, like us, were clearly marked as media with flak jackets on and press badges stuck on the armour, front and back.

Journalism is a very dangerous job here and increasingly becoming riskier.

Those covering this war – in Gaza and in Lebanon – appear to be in the midst of being systematically eliminated.

As of 21 November, 53 journalists and media workers are confirmed to have died in Gaza: 46 Palestinians, four Israelis, and three Lebanese nationals, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

In Lebanon, there has been a string of attacks on groups of journalists over the past few weeks.

With Farah and her cameraman Rabih Maamari, plus the killing of Reuters cameraman Issam Abdallah a few weeks ago, the number of journalists killed in Lebanon has risen to three.

But those numbers don’t take into account the terrible injuries suffered by those who’ve survived, who are still recovering from their wounds, some life-changing – as well as coping with the emotional scars that may never heal.