Indian Authorities to Question Binance on Laundering of Betting Proceeds: Report

The Enforcement Directorate is investigating Chinese-operated betting apps that have collected more than $134 million over the last 10 months.

Jul 30, 2021 at 12:06 p.m. UTC

Updated Sep 14, 2021 at 1:33 p.m. UTC

indianpolice — Indian police car on patrol.

Authorities in India are investigating whether Binance's WazirX was used in a money-laundering operation related to betting apps that have collected more than $134 million in the past 10 months, Bloomberg reported Friday.

The country's anti-money laundering agency, the Enforcement Directorate, wants to question Binance executives and is awaiting their response, Bloomberg said, citing unidentified people with knowledge of the issue.
The Enforcement Directorate is investigating Chinese-operated betting apps that allegedly laundered some of these funds through the Binance-owned crypto exchange. Binance acquired WazirX in 2019.
A Binance spokesperson said the company itself had not been contacted by any authorities in the matter. "We did not receive any summons in June or July of this year," the spokesperson said. "As per available info in the public domain, the summons was directed to only WazirX."

UPDATE (July 21, 12:58 UTC): Updated with response from Binance spokesperson.

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