Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is being booted out of the U.S. after federal prosecutors alleged the company aided terrorist networks like Hamas, violated sanctions and facilitated human and narcotics trafficking.
Binance, a global trading platform that accounts for about half of all crypto activity, has agreed to pay $4.4 billion to settle charges brought by the Department of Justice, Treasury and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao — who played a prominent role in the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange last year — pleaded guilty to money laundering charges, stepped down as CEO from the company and agreed to pay a $50 million fine. Zhao will also pay a $150 million penalty to the CFTC, while Samuel Lim, the company’s former chief compliance officer, has agreed to a $1.5 million penalty to the agency, according to the authorities.
“Binance turned a blind eye to its legal obligations in the pursuit of profit. Its willful failures allowed money to flow to terrorists, cybercriminals, and child abusers through its platform,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement. In prepared remarks, Yellen said groups like Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and ISIS had all used Binance to conduct transactions.
Most of the transactions alleged to have violated U.S. sanctions programs involved Iran, according to a senior Treasury official.
The more than $1 trillion crypto market has long been dogged by accusations of fraud. But the Binance settlement — the penalties assessed by the authorities are the largest in history — marks the latest sign that the industry has entered a new age of law and order in the U.S.
“The result of these agreements will be an end to company behavior that has posed risks to the U.S. financial system, U.S. citizens, and our country’s national security for too long,” Yellen said. “And let me be clear: We are also sending a message to the virtual currency industry more broadly, today and for the future.”
Under the terms of the settlement, Binance will also enter into a monitorship and undertake new compliance efforts, including “to ensure Binance’s complete exit from the United States,” the Treasury Department said. The monitor — a first for the crypto market — will give Treasury access to Binance’s books and records for five years. The senior Treasury official compared it to the oversight structure imposed on banks following the global financial crisis.
Treasury officials declined to comment on what the settlement means for Binance.US — a separate, smaller crypto exchange owned by Zhao that is registered with FinCEN as a money services business.
In a blog post published shortly after the announcement, Binance said the settlement will enable it to “emerge as a stronger company as we lay the foundation for the next 50 years.” And while Zhao will no longer have a leadership role, he remains the company's majority shareholder and “a resource available for consultation on historical areas of our business.”
Zhao admitted that he “made mistakes” and “must take responsibility” in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. He also said Richard Teng, the exchange’s former global head of regional markets, is taking over as CEO.
“Binance is no longer a baby. It is time for me to let it walk and run,” Zhao wrote. “I know Binance will continue to grow and excel with the deep bench it has.”
The U.S. accelerated efforts to rein in the crypto market over the last year following the downfall of Bankman-Fried’s FTX, the one-time chief rival of Binance and Zhao whose collapse shook Washington and Wall Street. Prosecutors have since gone after a number of major crypto executives on fraud charges, while regulators like the Gary Gensler-led Securities and Exchange Commission have nabbed several leading crypto companies including Gemini, Coinbase and, most recently, Kraken for allegedly skirting market rules.
The CFTC and SEC alleged earlier this year that Binance was, among other things, tapping into the American market without the authority to do so. The SEC’s case was not part of the settlements unveiled Tuesday.
“Binance’s activities undermined the foundation of safe and sound financial markets by intentionally avoiding basic, fundamental obligations that apply to exchanges, all the while collecting approximately $1.35 billion in trading fees from U.S. customers,” CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam said. “Binance and its leaders sought to dupe and indoctrinate their employees and customers, building a cult-like following premised on circumventing their own compliance controls to maximize corporate profits above all else.”
ALBANY, New York, — New Yorkers have soured on the state's two top Democratic leaders, a Marist College poll on Tuesday found.
Among New York City voters, 37 percent approved of the job Eric Adams has done as mayor while 54 percent disapproved. That's a long way from a Marist survey in March 2022, just a few months into his term, when he polled favorably 61 percent to 24 percent.
On Adams’ interactions with Turkey that are part of a federal campaign-finance investigation, more than seven in ten New York City residents thought he did something wrong during his 2021 campaign.
With Adams, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, 33 percent of New York City voters said they thought he “has done something illegal”; 39 percent said he “has done something unethical, but not illegal"; while 18 percent said he “has done nothing wrong.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul also struggled in the poll. Only 43 percent of registered voters approved of the job she is doing as governor, while 44 percent disapproved.
"There’s no good news for New York’s major officials," Lee Miringoff, the poll's director, said in a statement. "Governor Hochul’s standing has deteriorated in the state; Mayor Adams faces a more negative constituency."
For Adams, he was most popular with Black voters and older voters who were surveyed.
As for Hochul, only 39 percent of respondents said she is “changing the way things work in Albany for the better,” while 56 percent said she is not. She scored favorably on that question by a margin of 46 percent to 39 when Marist last asked it in October 2021, two months into her tenure.
A total of 59 percent of respondents said “the overall quality of life” in New York has “gotten worse” over the past year, while 11 percent said it has “gotten better.”
The Siena College Research Institute had been the only major independent pollster to release numbers on New York’s state government in 2023. The new Marist numbers help confirm months of conclusions by Siena that Hochul is in the polling doldrums — one Siena survey released on Monday found she was viewed favorably by 40 percent of registered voters and unfavorably by 43 percent.
Siena had a similar finding on Adams last month in a statewide poll: His job approval rating was 30 percent positive and 46 percent negative as he expects to run for a second term in 2025.
Marist also asked voters’ thoughts on Hochul’s political ideology.
Among Democrats, 19 percent said she was “too liberal,” 18 percent said “too conservative,” and 60 percent said “about right.” A total of 69 percent of Republicans and 55 percent of unaffiliated voters said she is “too liberal.”
The poll found that 48 percent of registered voters said Sen. Chuck Schumer is doing an “excellent” or “good” job in office, while 51 percent said his performance is “fair” or “poor.” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand landed at 40 percent to 55 percent on that question as she plans to run for reelection next year.
Only 44 percent of New Yorkers approved of President Joe Biden’s job performance, while 53 percent disapproved.
Pollsters surveyed 1,556 registered voters from Nov. 13-15. The statewide numbers have a margin of error of 3.2 points, while the New York City numbers have a margin of error of 5.3 points.
Amid its high-profile assaults on Amazon and Microsoft, the FTC isn't too busy to worry about people’s lunch.
The Federal Trade Commission is investigating if the $10 billion purchase of Subway creates a sandwich shop monopoly with Jimmy John's and Arby's. The latter two, in addition to McAlister’s Deli and Schlotzky’s, are owned by private equity firm Roark Capital, which inked a deal to buy Subway in August. The government is focused in part on whether the addition of Subway gives Roark too much control of a lucrative segment of the fast food industry, the people said.
Roark paid around $10 billion for Subway, according to a third person with knowledge of the deal.
The Atlanta-based Roark focuses on consumer chains with franchise models, and which also include Dunkin’, Buffalo Wild Wings and Baskin-Robbins.
The investigation is emblematic of the agency’s increased focus under FTC Chair Lina Khan on both deal-making by private equity firms and prices of consumer staples. The FTC in September sued a group of anesthesia practices in Texas and its private equity owner for a series of acquisitions that it says illegally consolidated the market. The agency is also investigating the pending merger of grocery store chains Kroger and Albertsons, and a decision on whether to challenge the deal is expected in the coming months.
Spokespeople for the FTC and Roark declined to comment. A spokesperson for Subway did not respond to a request for comment.
The FTC’s investigation began earlier this month, according to one of the people. Most mergers valued over $111.4 million must undergo a mandatory 30-day review period by either the FTC or Justice Department. Any investigation beyond that time period is discretionary. The companies unsuccessfully sought to stave off a prolonged probe through a procedural move that extended the initial period by another 30 days, according to the third person.
The investigation is in the early stages, and any resolution is likely months away. Merger reviews by antitrust regulators can often take a year or more. The FTC can either sue to block the merger, reach an agreement with the companies that alleviates its concerns, or take no action at all.
In any merger review, regulators must first determine the market where they believe competition is harmed. The companies are arguing the FTC should widen its focus beyond sandwiches, saying consumers are choosing between a wider array of options when deciding what to eat, and that Roark owns only a small fraction of the total U.S. fast food market, according to two of the people.
According to August 2023 rankings from QSR Magazine, which tracks the quick-service restaurant industry, Subway is the largest U.S. sandwich chain based on 2022 sales, with Arby’s, Jimmy John’s and McAlister’s Deli also in the top seven.
Subway’s franchise agreement notes the chain considers McAlister’s Deli and Schlotzky’s as key competitors, in addition to Jimmy John’s, according to the New York Post. It does not mention restaurants selling burgers and burritos, according to the Post, suggesting that Subway may not view those offerings as its primary competition.
The resource-constrained FTC is investigating many high-profile mergers and will ultimately have to make tough choices on which cases to pursue.
In addition to the Kroger-Albertsons tie-up, the FTC is also considering whether to challenge Amazon’s $1.8 billion takeover of robot vacuum maker iRobot and investigating Pfizer’s $43 billion purchase of cancer drugmaker Seagen. It also recently opened a probe of luxury brand owners Tapestry and Capri, and is expected to investigate a pair of megadeals by oil and gas giants Exxon and Chevron.
And while the FTC has succeeded in blocking deals by companies including Lockheed Martin and Nvidia, it has yet to win a merger challenge in court during Khan’s tenure, upping the pressure to bring home a litigation win. High-profile losses include an attempt to block Microsoft’s takeover of Activision Blizzard (which is on appeal), and Meta’s purchase of a virtual reality game developer.
Donald Trump was the Twitter president.
Joe Biden is slinging Dark Brandon merch.
And now, candidates in the 2024 GOP field are adopting many of the same marketing tactics that voters are more used to seeing from social media influencers such as Jake Paul, Tinx and Dave Portnoy.
Is this because American politics has hit a new bottom? Or is the pivot toward influencer marketing on the campaign trail a clever solution?
This election cycle candidates are struggling to fundraise and to penetrate the increasingly fragmented media ecosystem. Watch this video to see what POLITICO’s Alex Keeney finds as he explores whether emulating influencers is delivering results.
NEW YORK — Kevin McCarthy made the campaign cash flow as House speaker. His successor Mike Johnson will be playing catch-up for a while.
And for vulnerable New York Republicans with tough reelection battles, the difference is stark.
More than $1.8 million had been raised by McCarthy-associated committees versus just $12,000 by Johnson-affiliated ones for Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, Mike Lawler, Marc Molinaro, Brandon Williams and Nick LaLota, according to federal filings reviewed by POLITICO.
The former speaker was a prodigious fundraiser. Overall, McCarthy’s campaign raised more than 20 times what Johnson’s did for the 2022 cycle and the 2024 one thus far.
And his prowess was especially beneficial to his blue-state colleagues who were critical in the GOP winning the House last year.
Freshman House Republicans in New York acknowledged the void created when McCarthy was ousted from the speakership, but said they had faith that others will pick up the slack.
“Losing McCarthy is obviously a setback for our fundraising; it’s like losing a hall of famer in that category,” LaLota of Long Island said in an interview. “But there are multiple all-stars looking to step up.”
Seven New York incumbents face competitive races in 2024, per Cook Political Report ratings, and New York could decide which party has the House majority in 2025. LaLota is projected to be the safest among the seven, but his GOP colleagues D’Esposito, Lawler, Molinaro and Williams will need robust campaign war chests as they seek second terms.
Republicans are buoyed by the local election gains earlier this month, especially on Long Island, but they’re also fighting association with indicted GOP Rep. George Santos and pushing back on Democrats tying them to Johnson’s extremist views.
Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman described the new speaker in an interview as “someone for a national abortion ban with no exceptions, an architect of election denying, efforts to overturn the 2020 election and virulently anti-LGBTQ.”
Goldman predicted Republicans won’t be able to replicate McCarthy’s fundraising, saying Johnson “has to build an entire donor network from scratch because he’s effectively unknown.” (A Siena Research Institute poll released Monday found 53 percent of New York voters have never heard of Johnson or have no opinion of him.)
LaLota said Johnson’s first weeks as speaker-cum-fundraiser showed promise and cited additional progress by Reps. Steve Scalise and Tom Emmer in GOP leadership as well as Rep. August Pfluger of Texas.
The Congressional Leadership Fund and American Action Network said last week that they had raised $16 million in the 10 days since Johnson endorsed them, noting that the speaker was aggressively working to introduce himself to donors.
D’Esposito, also of Long Island, has stressed he doesn’t share Johnson’s stance on abortion. He also said he believes McCarthy retains considerable clout — even without the speaker’s gavel.
“He’s still going to be supportive of candidates that were supportive of him, especially in seats that he helped deliver,” D’Esposito said in an interview.
D’Esposito and Molinaro, whose district stretches across the Hudson Valley and into central New York, were the biggest recipients of McCarthy-steered cash to the five swing-district Republicans in the state. Molinaro’s campaign declined to comment.
The campaign of Lawler, a Hudson Valley Republican, also declined to comment.
A spokesperson for Williams’ campaign said the Syracuse-area representative is confident in his fundraising as well as Johnson’s.
“In 2024, the majority-makers from New York will once again prove that ‘the people’ have had enough of the ‘progressive fantasies’ of cashless bail, sanctuary cities, open borders and reckless government spending,” Taylor Weyeneth added in a statement.
National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Savannah Viar listed similar issues as detrimental to Democrats, saying, “Republicans’ strong fundraising effort is beside the main point: no amount of Democrats’ money will make voters forget their terrible policies.”
Daniel Lippman contributed to this report.
A version of this story first appeared in Monday’s New York Playbook. Subscribe here.
Joe Biden spent his 81st birthday the only way a president would want to, really: pardoning turkeys and telling jokes.
“By the way, it’s my birthday today. I just want you to know, it’s difficult turning 60,” Biden said Monday at the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardon.
He chuckled at his own joke. The crowd gobbled it up. But the turkeys didn’t laugh.
Which is odd, because they should have been in a good mood. After all, they were the lucky ones this year, spared from a fate that involved basting and roasting, or a deep fryer, or being lined with smaller birds and consumed alongside a heap of stuffing.
This year’s presidentially spared birds hail from Minnesota — a perhaps telling biographical tidbit, as it’s not quite a swing state but could be one if Biden truly plummets in the polls. In classic Biden fashion, however, there was a Pennsylvania connection, too. This year’s flock of turkeys were named Liberty and Bell. Get it?
“These birds have a new appreciation of the words, let freedom ring,” Biden said, speaking from the White House Rose Garden.
Monday’s annual event marked the 76th anniversary of the White House turkey pardon, which dates back to 1947, when the National Turkey Federation first presented the national Thanksgiving Turkey to President Harry Truman. Biden, in another age reference, quipped that he was not present at Truman’s event. But he was alive; he was a mere 5 years old at the time — old enough, for certain, to eat turkey.
While the Thanksgiving bird used to be for the first family’s consumption, that is no longer the case. Beginning in the late 1980s, the event evolved into an oftentimes funny ceremony (minus the occasional snap at the pardoner’s hand) in which the turkeys are given a second chance at life. Liberty and Bell will make the trek back to live out their lives at the University of Minnesota.
There were a few jokes throughout Biden’s short ceremony on Monday. But let’s just say it was, like the cooked variety, relatively dry.
But like all Thanksgiving festivities, there was also some awkwardness around the table. Biden bungled one joke referencing the challenging nature of getting a ticket to Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour or Taylor Swift’s Eras concert — appearing to confuse Swift with Britney Spears.
“Just to get here, Liberty and Bell had to beat some tough odds and competition. They had to work hard to show patience and be willing to travel over 1,000 miles,” Biden said. “You could say even it’s harder than getting a ticket to the Renaissance tour or, or, for Brittney’s tour. She’s down in — it’s kind of warm in Brazil right now.”
Oops, he did it again. Gobble gobble.
