Former Binance Employee Sues for Wrongful Termination After Exposing Bribery Claims

A former senior employee of Binance Europe has filed a lawsuit against the company, claiming she was wrongfully terminated after blowing the whistle on an alleged bribery incident.

Amrita Srivastava, who worked remotely for Binance’s Link platform, reported that a colleague had solicited a bribe from a customer for preferential treatment. Srivastava’s claims, made in April 2023, led to her dismissal a month later, despite her asserting that the termination was a retaliatory act for her whistleblowing.

In her case filed with an employment tribunal, Srivastava detailed how a co-worker, posing as a consultant, took bribes under the guise of offering services to expedite the client’s access to Binance, which involved a customer with connections to Iran. Despite reporting the issue to her superiors, Srivastava was told that the matter was already under investigation by Binance’s internal audit team. The company, however, contends that her firing was due to poor performance, not her allegations.

Srivastava had joined Binance in April 2022 after leaving Mastercard, and she worked to connect brokers and clients to the exchange. While whistleblower protections in the UK can lead to unlimited compensation, unfair dismissal claims are capped at £105,700.

This lawsuit adds to the growing list of legal challenges Binance faces. In the U.S., the exchange is under investigation by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), although it recently won a partial victory when a judge ruled that sales of BUSD and BNB tokens do not qualify as securities. The SEC’s lawsuit is ongoing, with key decisions expected in December.