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Binance’s legal team filed a motion in an Illinois district court yesterday evening, notifying the judge presiding over the case that two separate requests to dismiss charges against Binance and CZ will be served on the 27th of July.
Joint Motion, Along With One for Former Compliance Officer
Although a single joint motion will be filed to dismiss charges against CZ and Binance, respectively, another one will also be submitted on behalf of former compliance officer Samuel Lim. However, certain parts of the CZ & Binance joint motion will also serve as part of Lim’s defense.
Prior to the notice of intent, Binance’s legal defense team notified the CFTC of their intent off the record. In turn, the agency authorized Binance’s legal team to state that they are not in opposition to the request being filed.
Binance’s request is the third of its kind in the crypto industry over the past month, with Coinbase and Bittrex attempting the same strategy. So far, the court has not ruled on either request.
Request to Exceed Document Page Limit
Aside from notifying the CFTC of the intent, Binance’s lawyers have also requested an exemption from the 15-page limit usually enacted for requests of this sort.
According to Bloomberg, the exemption was requested due to the complexity and length of the CFTC’s complaint – which spread out over 73 pages and 236 paragraphs. In order to accurately respond to all allegations brought against the defendants, more than 15 pages will be needed.
“Defendants endeavored to comply with the page limit of Local Rule 7.1. But given the complexity of the CFTC’s Complaint and the number of arguments Defendants anticipate making in support of their Motions to Dismiss, Defendants anticipate that their Memoranda of Law in support of the two motions will exceed the fifteen-page limits. Accordingly, Defendants respectfully request an expansion of the page limit allowed[…].”
Should the request be granted, the length of the defense motion would stretch to 50 pages – which is still 25 shorter than the laundry list of accusations brought against the defendants.
It remains to be seen whether the CFTC lawsuit will be overruled by the court in response to Binance’s actions. If the motion goes through, it would still leave the exchange to contend with a separate lawsuit filed against them in early June by the SEC and an investigation by the DOJ for allegedly failing to comply with government-imposed sanctions on Russian markets.