German Authorities Say Terrorist Accomplice Funded Operation Through Binance

German authorities, in a letter to Binance, disclosed that two accomplices accused of supporting an Islamic terrorist who killed four people in the 2020 Vienna attack used its trading platform to fund the operation.

Authorities noted in a letter sent to Binance in March 2021 as seen and published by Reuters today.

Notably, the letter was written in a bid to get information from the exchange about the nature of the transaction the suspects carried out.

Suspects’ Activities on Binance

According to the letter, the suspects named Drilon G, a German citizen, and Blinor S, a Kosovo national, purchased and sold an unspecified amount of cryptocurrencies on Binance.

The country’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) said Blinor S. succeeded in conducting numerous transactions on Binance using an unnamed bank account, while Binance verification codes were discovered on Drilon G’s phone.

Notably, certain details like dates, numbers, and value of the transactions were not included in the letter. However, the letter requested that Binance should provide other details relating to both suspects’ activities on the platform, especially the details of the transactions.

Reuters noted that all efforts to get fresh comments from the BKA and Binance were unsuccessful; however, the suspects in an email sent to the media outlet denied funding the terrorist attack using cryptocurrency.

Blinor told Reuters that he opened an account with Binance for the sole purpose of investing in cryptocurrencies and not to sponsor any terrorist attack because he has always known that “every transaction on Binance is traceable.”

Commenting on the development, the counsel to the suspects disclosed that to date German authorities are yet to issue any arrest warrants and charge the suspects with any crime.

Binance Regulatory Woes

Binance has been under increased regulatory scrutiny across various parts of the world since last year.

While the countries noted that Binance does not have the relevant license to operate within their jurisdictions, regulators have continued to launch stringent measures against cryptocurrencies due to the assumption that the asset class is mostly used to finance illicit activities, including terrorist financing.

2020 Vienna Terrorist Attack

Recall that the Vienna attack, which took place on November 2, 2020, saw a 20-year-old Austrian named Fejzulai, shoot at six crowded places in the city, killing four people in the process.

Per a public statement issued in July 2021, Germany’s Federal Public Prosecutor General disclosed that both Blinor and Drillon knew about the attack beforehand, but failed to report it to relevant authorities, which put them on the suspect list.

Throughout the peak of the investigation, the authority did not mention anything about Binance, or evidence indicating that the suspects funded the operation with cryptocurrencies.

However, both suspects were accused of keeping in touch with Fejzulai and also living at his residence alongside other Islamists for several days.