Binance CEO accuses Bloomberg of constant defamation, drags it to court

On Monday, crypto exchange platform Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, popularly known as “CZ,” sued Bloomberg Businessweek’s Hong Kong publisher Modern Media Company Limited, accusing the outlet of defamation.

Bloomberg: hey, we will do a nice profile piece on you, invite you for photoshoots, etc. Then switches the story last minute. Ignore all positive comments they got from 3rd parties. Picked only old negatives. And still puts you on the cover. WTF!? Unprofessional.

— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) June 24, 2022

The defamation charges were included in the filing because of claims made in a translated Chinese article that the exchange’s CEO was operating a cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme.

In accordance with the court papers, Modern Media released a story that included “false, malicious and defamatory statements about Zhao and his company, Binance Holdings Limited.”

Can Crypto’s Richest Man Stand the Cold? was the subject of a June 23 Bloomberg article that appeared in the Chinese edition under the title “Zhao Changpeng’s Ponzi Scheme.”

While most of the journalists at Bloomberg are good, the Binance founder noted in the original piece on June 25 that “this time, it was bad.” He said, “Be accountable for your actions.”

Zhao is also suing the publication for promoting the piece on its social media pages in China with a title that makes reference to a Ponzi scheme. According to the filings, the article was also published in Chinese and distributed in print on July 7 across Hong Kong.

Before the lawsuit was filed, Bloomberg reportedly addressed some of Zhao’s complaints by modifying the article’s headline to “The Mysterious Changpeng Zhao.” Moreover, the offensive social media posts were taken down, and Hong Kong recalled physical copies of the translated piece.

Binance CEO files a motion for discovery in the U.S.

Alongside Hong Kong, a motion for discovery was also made against Bloomberg in the United States for defamation as a result of the original story.

Notably, the company has confirmed that the lawsuit filing is a personal suit and has nothing to do with the exchange. 

Trips to court have been really frequent these days for the exchange. Notably, in June, Binance.US had been dragged to court in a class-action lawsuit by a group of investors over LUNA sales.