The biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Binance, has had a lawsuit against it dismissed because of a “pig butchering” cryptocurrency fraud that was run on the dating app Tinder.
According to a decision made by U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant on May 22, there is no proof that Binance Holdings Ltd. helped commit the theft, which involved a Texas woman who was reportedly defrauded of $8 million by a man she met on Tinder.
The Texan woman, Divya Gadasalli, was allegedly “promised romance and financial prosperity” by a person going by the name of “Jerry Bulasa” on Tinder, but she ultimately lost more than $8 million, according to the lawsuit.
Gadasalli claimed Bulasa persuaded her to send millions of dollars in what turned out to be a “pig butchering” scam, in which the con artist spends weeks or months cultivating a fictitious relationship with the victim in order to deceive them into sending money.
In March 2022, the plaintiff filed a lawsuit seeking injunctive relief against Binance as well as numerous other defendants, including TD Bank, Abacus Federal Savings Bank, and the Poloniex exchange.
Gadasalli first claimed that Binance was responsible since it offered exchange services to the con artist.
She argued that Binance and Binance US were the same entity and people used VPNs (virtual private networks) to access the exchange.
Judge Mazzant, however, found that the plaintiff “cannot point to a single fact of how Binance is actually involved in this case” and was unable to show that the firm was subject to the court’s jurisdiction.
The judge added that Gadasalli could not prove that any of the fraud occurred in Texas since Binance and Binance.US was barred from operating there.
