Binance hires ex-IRS special agent who worked on Silk Road, Mt. Gox and BTC-e cases

The cryptocurrency exchange Binance hired a former Internal Revenue Service IRS special agent Tigran Gambaryan as vice president for global intelligence and investigations. He took up his duties in early September.

Gambaryan spent more than a decade at the IRS. He led several major cybercrime investigations, including the case of corrupt agency agents, charged in the theft of cryptocurrency from the infamous Silk Road dark-net marketplace.

The specialist also led investigations related to money laundering on the BTC-e platform and the hacking of the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange.

«I look forward to bringing this experience to the Binance team and cementing the company’s position as a leader in regulatory compliance and investigations. Compliance with the law is the first line of defence», — Gambaryan told Bloomberg.

Binance also welcomed Gambaryan’s fellow former IRS agent — Matthew Price. He took up the post of Senior Director of Investigations.

Price has more than 15 years in law enforcement. In particular, he was the lead investigator in the case of the Bitcoin mixer Helix, the operator of which pleaded guilty to laundering more than $300 million.

«Matthew and his team conducted the first-ever investigation and successful prosecution of this kind — combining sophisticated blockchain analysis, traditional investigative methods and broad international cooperation», — according to a Binance statement.

The recruitment follows a string of regulatory issues facing the exchange. In recent months, financial regulators in several countries, including the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa and a number of others, issued warnings to investors about the company’s activities.

Against this backdrop, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao published an open letter, in which he outlined the exchange’s plans for regulatory compliance and customer protection.

In August, the company introduced mandatory verification for users and invited former U.S. Treasury investigator Greg Monahan to the role of anti-money-laundering official.

The activities of Binance are also to be examined by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which suspects the platform of insider trading and market manipulation.

In September, former Europol darknet specialist Nils Andresen-Read joined Binance’s security team.

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