Binance.US enlists all-star lawyer as it preps for government showdown

George Canellos led the SEC’s enforcement division until 2014

article-image

Zolnierek/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Binance.US is preparing for a legal showdown, and it’s beefing up its legal team ahead of a hearing scheduled for June 13. 

In a filing on Monday, George Canellos, a partner at Milbank’s New York office, declared himself as counsel for both BAM Trading and Management.

Canellos worked at the SEC as a co-director of its enforcement division from 2009 until 2014. He was part of the investigations that led to $570 million in sanctions in connection with misleading investors about residential mortgage-backed securities against JPMorgan Securities, Credit Suisse Securities, RBS Securities, and Bank of America following the 2008 financial crisis.

According to his biography page on Milbank’s website, Canellos has represented multiple executives and companies in SEC cases. 

A 2014 New York Times Dealbook article quotes former Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chief David Meister praising Canellos, saying that Canellos was “extremely well thought of” in the regulatory community.

Last week, the SEC sued Binance, Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, BAM Management and BAM Trading — which oversee Binance.US —with violations of the exchange and securities acts as well as alleged potential fraud. 

The SEC is currently seeking a temporary restraining order against the above defendants, and seeking specifically to freeze the assets of BAM Management and BAM Trading. 

In response, Binance.US announced last week that it would be pausing customer withdrawals and — at least temporarily — focusing on being an all-crypto exchange “as early as June 13.”

A hearing on the temporary restraining order is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, June 13. 

Binance.US declined to comment.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

We believe DoubleZero, given its symbiotic relationship with validators & searchers, promise to boost overall network efficiency and throughput, lack of competition, and ability to serve many blockchain ecosystems, will command meaningful pricing power and could command a meaningful take of priority revenues across blockchains.

article-image

A new policy framework says decentralization should be judged by control — not vibes

article-image

You know about the Bitcoin Standard — what about the Bitcoin Scholarship?

article-image

Toku’s suit accuses an ex-employee of stealing confidential business information and sharing it with competitor Liquifi

article-image

Partial recovery is already in motion, according to the Loopscale team

article-image

Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Apple are slated to report Q1 earnings this week, and we’re watching one especially closely

article-image

Tariff concerns on corporate earnings and weakening of the US dollar contributed to the surge, CoinShares exec says