Top cryptocurrency news: Binance CEO CZ filed a lawsuit against Bloomberg Chinese subsidiary

Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, has filed a defamation lawsuit against Bloomberg Businessweek in Hong Kong.

The CEO of Binance, also referred as in the cryptocurrency world as "CZ," filed a lawsuit against Modern Media Company Limited on Monday. Modern Media is an independent company that licenses Bloomberg content.

The lawsuit contained defamation accusations stemming from a translated Chinese article alleging the exchange's CEO was conducting a crypto Ponzi scheme.

According to the filing documents, "Modern Media published a report with false, malicious, and defamatory accusations regarding Zhao and his firm, Binance Holdings Limited."

The Chinese edition published a version of a June 23 Bloomberg piece titled “Can Crypto's Richest Man Survive the Cold?” It was released under the title “Zhao Changpeng's Ponzi Scheme.”

On June 25, CZ remarked on the original piece, saying, "While most writers at Bloomberg are good, this time was awful." On Monday, he stated, "Be responsible for your acts."

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

In the United States, a motion for discovery was also brought against Bloomberg for defamation resulting from the original article. It stated that “shockingly, the Original Article featured multiple severe and defamatory charges made against Zhao and Binance that were wholly baseless and clearly intended to mislead readers into assuming that Zhao and Binance were involved in unlawful or unethical activities.”

Zhao is requesting a ruling that would prevent the newspaper from ever republishing the allegedly defamatory words in Hong Kong. He also wants to get the remarks removed and recalled.

According to court filings, Bloomberg somewhat alleviated Zhao's concerns before filing the lawsuit by modifying the headline of the article to "The Mysterious Changpeng Zhao."

This is not the first time Zhao and Binance have taken legal action against the media. In 2020, Binance Holdings Ltd sued Forbes Media LLC for defamation, but the lawsuit was abruptly dismissed in the next year.

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