Circle denies allegations of ties to Justin Sun

The issuer of the stablecoin USDC — Circle — has denied claims of illicit financing and ties to TRON founder Justin Sun, the TRON Foundation and HTX. The matter is described in anan open letter to US senators.

The letter was signed by Dante Disparte, Director of Strategy and Head of Public Relations. The recipients were Chairman of the Banking Committee Sherrod Brown and one of his fellow members, Elizabeth Warren.

On November 9, senators received a letter from Campaign for Accountability accusing Circle of violating the law.

Disparte noted that he does not directly or indirectly assist or finance HAMAS (and other illicit entities), as well as Justin Sun and entities related to him. Circle falls under several regulatory regimes, including the Bank Secrecy Act and laws aimed at combating money laundering and terrorist financing.

The executive explained that the accusations are based on unverified, uncorroborated posts on social media.

“Only $160 was transferred in USDC among [illicit wallets], and this amount was not purchased from Circle,” the letter says.

Regarding Sun, Disparte noted that the company has stopped providing services to him and all entities owned or controlled by him, including the TRON Foundation and Huobi Global. The Director of Strategy clarified that, at the time of writing, OFAC had not added them to the SDN list.

Campaign for Accountability claimed that the SunSwap protocol is frequently used for money laundering.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Palestinian militants received at least $134 million in cryptocurrencies.

According to TRM Labs, over the past year ISIS-affiliated structures in Asia used cryptocurrencies to raise more than $2 million, and most often this involved the TRON-based USDT stablecoin.

Earlier, experts estimated the share of high-risk operations with TRC-20 USDT on the OTC-market.

In November, Reuters, citing blockchain-analysis experts, reported that Iran-backed militant groups were moving from Bitcoin to TRON to fund their activities.