Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao Sues Bloomberg for Defamation
On Monday, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao filed a lawsuit against the Hong Kong publisher of Bloomberg Businessweek, Modern Media. The claim stems from a June 23 profile of Zhao titled “Can Crypto’s Richest Man Stand the Cold?”
However, in Hong Kong, Businessweek’s local publisher ran a different headline that was designed – according to Zhao’s representative – to incite “contempt, hatred, and ridicule” for the world’s richest crypto billionaire. The headline there read “Zhao Changpeng’s Ponzi Scheme.”
Zhao is seeking a retraction, wants the edition removed from newsstands, and wants a restraining order to stop the defendants from further disseminating the portrayal. Modern Media has already complied with part of his demands by retracting the original article and removing it from their website.
Additionally, he filed a motion requesting discovery against Bloomberg L.P. and Bloomberg Inc in the Southern District of New York, over what Zhao felt were defamatory statements in the article.
According to the motion filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the statements in the article made it appear as if Zhao was committing illegal activities, which is why he took legal action against Bloomberg Inc. The dual lawsuits come as part of Zhao’s continued efforts to protect Binance’s image, with many similar cases having been filed against different media outlets and journalists.
Binance protecting its image
Binance has been involved in several lawsuits regarding defamatory statements. In 2020, Binance sued Forbes for defamation, but the case was dropped the following year (although later, Binance and Forbes formed a strategic partnership that was related to a failed SPAC deal).
In 2019, Zhao sued venture capital firm Sequoia for defamation in a U.S. court. The lawsuits show how Binance tries to protect its image very carefully. Earlier this month, Modern Media removed the Ponzi headline from the magazine, and pulled the physical copies from circulation because of back and forth between legal teams. However, several online websites continued to sell the print version of the magazine, according to Zhao’s court filing.
Zhao personally did not comment on the lawsuit, however did send out a message to his 6.7 million large Twitter audience:
Be accountable for your actions.
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) July 25, 2022
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
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Source: igaming
