US judge moves Binance lawsuit with $297M claims to Florida court

A US District Judge has approved Binance’s request to transfer a lawsuit alleging the exchange facilitated money laundering to the Southern District of Florida.

The decision, issued on April 21 by Judge Barbara Rothstein, cited the first-to-file rule due to a similar case already pending in Florida.

The Washington case, filed in August 2024, and the Florida case, filed in June 2023, both involve claims that Binance allowed stolen cryptocurrency to be laundered through its platform.

“Although the two complaints describe the proposed classes in slightly different terms, both encompass the same proposed class of individuals whose cryptocurrency was stolen and transferred to a Binance.com account during the relevant period,” Judge Rothstein noted.

She concluded that the plaintiff classes were sufficiently similar to justify applying the first-to-file rule, which generally gives priority to the court where the first suit was filed.

Plaintiffs in the Washington case argued that their lawsuit included additional allegations not present in the Florida suit and named former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao as a defendant.

They also expressed concern that transferring the case could delay proceedings and harm plaintiffs’ interests.

However, Judge Rothstein ruled that transferring the case would not likely cause delays and would promote judicial efficiency by preventing duplicative litigation.

“To allow two parallel class actions to proceed in separate districts would be duplicative and inefficient,” she wrote.

The Florida case, filed by Michael Osterer in June 2023, alleges Binance aided the conversion of stolen cryptocurrency and was ordered to arbitration in July 2024.

The Washington suit was brought by three crypto investors in August 2024, claiming their assets were stolen and laundered through Binance.

The ruling consolidates related litigation and could streamline the resolution of claims against Binance and its former CEO.