Whistleblower Alleges Bribery and Retaliation

A former senior employee at Binance has filed a whistleblower lawsuit in the UK, alleging that a colleague solicited a bribe from a customer in exchange for preferential treatment.

Amrita Srivastava, who worked remotely for Binance’s Link platform, claims she was wrongfully terminated after reporting the alleged misconduct. 

Legal Troubles Continue for Binance

According to Bloomberg reports, these allegations came forward during an employment tribunal earlier this week. Srivastava said the colleague accepted payment under the guise of providing consulting services. 

The employee would secretly take bribes to register new customers into the exchange. She further alleged that the individual concealed their affiliation with Binance and has since left the company.

Although Srivastava reported the bribery to her managers in April 2023, she was dismissed the following month. 

Now, she is suing Binance Europe Ltd. for what allegedly was retaliation for raising concerns about the incident. The exchange also faced similar allegations from another employee earlier this year. 

“Amrita Srivastava, a former Binance senior, is suing Binance’s UK branch, claiming she got fired for snitching on a bribery scheme. She says someone at Binance took a bribe under the guise of “consulting,” and she wasn’t gonna let that slide. She reported it, but a month later, boom—fired for “poor performance,” Mario Nawfal wrote on X (formerly Twitter)

Meanwhile, Binance’s legal team argued that the company was already aware of the bribery claim. However, they maintained that Srivastava’s dismissal was due to poor performance. The legal team pointed to a broader company practice of addressing underperformance among employees.

This tribunal hearing another tale in Binance’s long list of legal troubles. Back in November 2023, the exchange pled guilty to violating US anti-money laundering. This led to a record $4.3 billion penalty and the resignation of Changpeng Zhao (CZ) as the company’s CEO.

At the same time, CZ and Binance are facing a separate lawsuit from bankrupt crypto exchange FTX. According to the lawsuit filed earlier this month, Sam Bankman-Fried fraudulently transferred a part of $1.8 billion in assets to both CZ and his exchange. 

Most recently, CZ served a four-month prison sentence for violating US money laundering laws. He was released back in September but continues to face multiple other lawsuits.