Binance CEO Sues Bloomberg For Defamation In Hong Kong

Changpeng Zhao, the Binance CEO Sues Bloomberg Businessweek for defamatory statements that were published earlier this month in Hong Kong and via their affiliated Twitter and Facebook accounts so let’s have a close look at today’s latest Binance news.

The Binance CEO sues Bloomberg Businessweek according to a copy of the filign that was submitted in the High Court of Hong Kong because of a defamatory statement that was published in the Bloomberg US Article “Can Crypto’s Richest Man Stand the Cold?” Zhao is seeking damages because the Chinese edition contained a phrase translating to “Zhao Changpneg’s Ponzi Scheme” so now Zhao will be suing the publication for reusing the phrase twice in Facebook and Twitter posts. Binance said that Zhao’s filing is a personal suit unaffiliated with the exchange.

The comments here says it all. While most journalist at Bloomberg are good, but this time, it was bad.

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

Zhao’s filing in Hong Kong argued that the published statements were calculated to hold Zhao up to contempt, hatred, and ridicule. The filing claims:

“They tended to lower [Zhao] in the estimation of right-thinking members of society in general, in particular the members (existing or potential) of the crypto community and commercial counterparties (existing or potential) of [Zhao].”

According to the lawsuit, the CEO’s legal counsel argued that the statements were published in a sensational manner but that it was not all. According to the Memorandum of Law filed in New York, Zhao’s legal counsel alleged that the original version of the article contained other defamatory statements. The New York documents argued that the original article contained other defamatory allegations made against Binance and Zhao that were unsubmitted and were designed to mislead the readers into thinking that Zhao and his exchange were engaging in illegal activities.

The New York filing took issue with Bloomberg and published that at the exchange, the sketchiness has a completeness to it and that the paltform is a “massive shitcoin casino” which are statements that Zhao sees as defamatory:

“While most journalist[s] at Bloomberg are good, but this time, it was bad.”

Be accountable for your actions.

— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) July 25, 2022

In Hong Kong, Zhao is seeking an injunction that barred the publication from republishing the defamatory statements and to remove the recall of the statements alogn with the interest, costs, and damages. This is not the first time Zhao sued a media outlet for defamation. Back in 2020, he filed a complaint against Forbes. He even sued two reports beucase the article claimed that binance had an elaborate corporate structure that was intentionally designed to deceive regulators and to profit from investors in the US. Zhao dropped the lawsuit later.