Ex-Binance exec sues for whistleblowing, citing bribery and unfair dismissal claims: report

Binance is facing legal action after a former senior employee claims she was fired for reporting a colleague’s bribery attempt, which she says was disguised as consultative services.

A former executive at Binance is suing the crypto exchange in the United Kingdom, claiming she was wrongfully dismissed after reporting a colleague’s alleged attempt to solicit a bribe from a customer, Bloomberg has learned.

Amrita Srivastava, a senior Binance employee based in London, testified at an employment tribunal that she was fired after raising concerns about the bribery incident. Srivastava said the colleague took the money “under the guise of providing consultative services” to track the customer’s integration into Binance, while pretending not to be affiliated with the company. The colleague has since left Binance, the report reads.

Srivastava, who worked remotely on Binance’s Link platform connecting brokers and customers to the exchange, is suing European arm, Binance Europe Ltd. She told her managers about the bribery in April 2023, but was dismissed a month later, per Bloomberg.

In response, Binance’s lawyer said the exchange was already aware of the incident and that Srivastava’s dismissal was due to poor performance, not whistleblowing. A spokesperson for the exchange told Bloomberg in a statement that the decision to end her employment for poor performance “pre-dated concerns she raised about an issue that was already known and under investigation by our internal audit team.”

While working at the Link unit, Srivastava said there was pressure to deliver deals as Binance was trying to fill a revenue gap after realizing that about a quarter of Link’s service revenue had come from a customer with ties to Iran.

Binance’s lawyer said in court filings that the company’s executives were aware of the bribery and had escalated the matter. In a filing for a hearing, Srivastava pointed out that her experience at Binance “has been personally damaging to my career, an impact I will continue to have to undo over the next few years.”