Binance's top legal and risk executives exit amid ongoing challenges

These exits come as the crypto exchange grapples with escalating regulatory scrutiny in the cryptocurrency industry. The departure of top executives underscores the challenges and uncertainty Binance.US faces in navigating the evolving regulatory landscape. Krishna Juvvadi, who served as the Head of Legal, and Sidney Majalya, the Chief Risk Officer, are stepping down from their positions at Binance.US, according to sources cited by the Wall Street Journal. Juvvadi joined the company in May of the previous year, while Majalya assumed the role in December 2021. Their departures mark significant leadership changes within the organization.

Binance.US Witnesses Additional High-Level Departures Amid Layoffs and SEC Scrutiny

These recent executive departures follow Binance.US's announcement of CEO Brian Shroder's departure and the company's reduction of its workforce by one-third. Krishna Juvvadi, who previously served as Uber's global head of compliance, joined Binance.US in May 2022, while Sidney Majalya, who previously held the position of chief compliance officer at Intel, joined the company in December 2021 after his tenure at Uber.

Juvvadi, The WSJ noted, “was one of the company’s contacts for communicating with the SEC [United States Securities and Exchange Commission].” Binance.US is facing legal action from the SEC.

Earlier this month, Mayur Kamat, who had been serving as the Global Product Lead for nearly a year and a half, departed from the company. Throughout this year, Binance also witnessed the departure of key executives, including Chief Strategy Officer Patrick Hillmann, Senior Director of Investigations Matthew Price, and Senior Vice President for Compliance Steven Christie, among several others.

In June, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Binance.US, Binance, and CEO Changpeng Zhao, accusing them of engaging in unregistered securities activities and other misconduct. This legal action resulted in complications with Binance.US's banking partners, leading to temporary halts in U.S. dollar deposits and withdrawals, which were only resolved in August when the company established a partnership with the cryptocurrency payments firm MoonPay.

Binance.US has pushed back against the SEC's legal strategies, seeking a protective order against the agency in August and characterizing the SEC's requests as unreasonable and excessively burdensome a motion filed on September 12.

Furthermore, in March, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a lawsuit against Binance, alleging violations of trading and derivatives regulations. Throughout the year, Binance has experienced the departure of several executives and implemented layoffs, further highlighting the challenges and turbulence it has faced.

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