Senior executives, including general counsel Gan Ng, chief strategy officer Patrick Hillmann, and vice president of compliance Steven Christie, told Zhao this week that they would be leaving the company.
The resignations were allegedly due to CEO Changpeng Zhao’s handling of investigations.
Fortune learned that senior figures, including general counsel Han Ng, chief strategy officer Patrick Hillmann, and vice president of compliance Steven Christie, told Zhao this week that they would be leaving the company. Their departure follows the recent departure of Matthew Price, a former IRS agent that Binance hired to oversee global investigations and intelligence in 2021.
The executives’ decision to leave the company marks a managerial and strategic crisis at a time when Binance is facing massive regulatory pressure. This situation is also likely to increase the pressure, as those who left are among the legal and compliance departments that have the most direct contact with regulators.
According to a person familiar with the situation at Binance, executives chose to leave over Zhao’s response to an ongoing investigation by the Justice Department.
*Not investment advice