Wall Street Journal Seeks Dismissal of Binance Defamation Suit Over Iran Sanctions Reporting

According to Arzdigital, in a report published Friday, August 14, 2026 (23 Mordad 1405), lawyers for the Wall Street Journal asked federal Judge Paul Engelmayer to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed against the newspaper by crypto exchange Binance. The case stems from Wall Street Journal reports alleging that Binance undermined its own internal compliance efforts and allowed more than one billion dollars in transactions tied to Iran sanctioned entities. Katherine Bolger, the newspaper's attorney, told the court that Binance has not disputed the underlying facts of the reporting and objects only to how it was framed.

Christopher Lavigne, Binance's attorney, countered that the Wall Street Journal presented a misleading account that falsely suggested the exchange had halted its internal investigation. Binance has said the investigation continued after the employees in question left and that suspicious accounts were frozen. Judge Engelmayer, after hearing arguments from both sides, deferred a final ruling on whether to dismiss the case. Binance previously settled a separate case with US authorities in 2023 over anti money laundering and sanctions violations, paying a 4.3 billion dollar penalty.