Ex-Binance exec sues for whistleblowing, citing bribery and unfair dismissal claims: report

Binance is facing legal action after a former senior employee claimed he was fired for reporting a colleague’s attempted bribery that he said was disguised as consulting services.

A former Binance executive is suing the UK crypto exchange, claiming he was unfairly dismissed after reporting a colleague’s attempt to solicit a bribe from a customer, Bloomberg has learned.

Amrita Srivastava, a London-based senior Binance employee, testified in an employment tribunal that she was fired after raising concerns about the bribery incident. Srivastava said his colleague took the money “under the guise of providing consulting services” to monitor the client’s integration into Binance while pretending to have no connection with the company. His colleague has since left Binance, according to the report.

Srivastava, who works remotely on Binance’s Link platform that connects brokers and clients to the exchange, is suing its European arm, Binance Europe Ltd. He told his managers about the bribe in April 2023, but was fired a month later, according to Bloomberg.

In response, Binance’s lawyer said that the exchange was already aware of the incident and that Srivastava’s dismissal was due to poor performance, not notice. A spokesperson for the exchange told Bloomberg that the decision to terminate him for poor performance “predated concerns he raised about an issue that was already known and investigated by our internal audit team.”

While working at Link, Srivastava said the pressure to make a deal came as Binance sought to fill a revenue gap after realizing that nearly a quarter of Link’s service revenue came from a customer with ties to Iran.

Binance’s lawyer said in court filings that company executives knew about the bribery and escalated the issue. In his application for hearing, Srivastava stated that his experience at Binance was “personally damaging to my career, and I will have to undo that impact over the next few years.”