Binance CEO CZ sues Bloomberg subsidiary for defamation

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has filed a defamation lawsuit against Bloomberg subsidiary Modern Media Company.

Binance CEO Alleges Defamation

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao is taking Bloomberg’s Chinese subsidiary to court.

The Hong Kong Economic Times (HKET) reported the news today, confirming that Changpeng Zho will sue Bloomberg‘s Chinese-language subsidiary Modern Media Company.

The media company ran Bloomberg Businessweekits 250th issue titled “Changpeng Zhao’s Ponzi Scheme.”

Zhao’s defense highlighted that Modern Media is an influential publication and argued that the cover title damaged his public image and caused distress and embarrassment. The firm has been asked to retract its defamatory comments against Zhao, issue a formal apology and offer financial compensation including damages.

Neither Zhao nor Binance have commented on the allegations, although Zhao hinted at his involvement in the matter by retweeting A pole from Watch Guru Today.

Bloomberg appears to have partially satisfied Zhao’s concerns before the lawsuit was filed. Reports elsewhere suggest that some instances of the offending title were changed to “The Mysterious Changpeng Zhao” last week.

Furthermore, the offending title can only be seen on the Chinese edition of the cover. The English version on the cover was titled “Can Crypto’s Richest Man Stand the Cold?”

This is not the first time Zhao has sued a major news outlet; Binance sued Forbes in 2020 over an article that accused the firm of secretly working to funnel money and evade regulators. Binance dropped the lawsuit in early 2021 and later announced a $200 million investment in the media giant a year later.

Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned BTC, ETH and other cryptocurrencies.