Binance CEO CZ Sues Bloomberg Subsidiary for Defamation

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has filed a defamation lawsuit against the Bloomberg subsidiary Modern Media Company.

Binance CEO Alleges Defamation

Binance chief Changpeng Zhao is taking Bloomberg’s Chinese subsidiary to court.

The Hong Kong Economic Times (HKET) reported the news today, confirming that Changpeng Zho will sue Bloomberg‘s Chinese-language subsidiary Modern Media Company.

The media company ran Bloomberg Businessweek‘s 250th issue with the title “Changpeng Zhao’s Ponzi Scheme.”

Zhao’s defense highlighted that Modern Media is an influential publication and argued that the cover title harmed his public image and caused distress and embarrassment. The firm has been asked to withdraw its defamatory comments against Zhao, issue a formal apology, and offer financial compensation including damages.

Neither Zhao nor Binance have commented on the allegations, though Zhao hinted at his involvement in the case by retweeting a post from Watcher Guru today.

Bloomberg seems to have partially satisfied Zhao’s concerns before the lawsuit was filed. Reports elsewhere suggest that some instances of the offending title were changed to “The Mysterious Changpeng Zhao” last week.

Furthermore, the offending title can only be seen on the Chinese edition of the cover. The English version of the cover featured the title “Can Crypto’s Richest Man Stand the Cold?”

This is not the first time that Zhao has sued a major news outlet; Binance sued Forbes in 2020 over an article that accused the firm of secretly working to funnel money and evade regulators. Binance dropped that lawsuit in early 2021 and later announced a $200 million investment in the media giant a year later.

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned BTC, ETH, and other cryptocurrencies.