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Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler and YouTube influencer Ben Armstrong have agreed to pay a combined $340,000 to settle claims from Binance investors.
According to a recent Bloomberg report, the customers’ lawyers requested preliminary approval for the settlement from a federal judge in Miami on Monday after months of mediation.
Butler and Armstrong Deny Wrongdoing
The settlement is part of a broader lawsuit that includes Binance and its co-founder, Changpeng Zhao. The investors claim they were lured into buying cryptocurrencies, including Binance’s BNB token, which were allegedly unregistered securities under U.S. law.
If the judge grants preliminary approval, the buyers of the Binance securities will have the opportunity to object to the settlement at a hearing before final approval is given.
The lawsuit was filed last year against Jimmy Butler and Ben Armstrong, known as BitBoy Crypto. Armstrong’s attorney, Darren Heitner, confirmed that a settlement was reached, with both Armstrong and Butler maintaining their innocence as part of the agreement.
New Class Action Lawsuit Against Binance
Three crypto investors have recently filed a class action lawsuit against Binance and its former CEO, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, accusing the company of enabling large-scale money laundering.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, Seattle, alleges that Binance allowed stolen cryptocurrencies to be laundered through its platform, making them untraceable.
The plaintiffs, Philip Martin, Natalie Tang, and Yatin Khanna, claim their stolen digital assets were funneled through the exchange, which they argue was complicit in the laundering process. They assert that Binance’s actions violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
The lawsuit also claims Binance operated as an unlicensed money-transmitting business under Zhao’s leadership, disregarding AML regulations and facilitating illegal transactions. This legal action adds to Binance and Zhao’s mounting challenges in their ongoing legal battles.