Key Takeaways
- Judge Rothstein ruled that the allegations in the two lawsuits are “sufficiently similar” and involve overlapping classes of plaintiffs
- The Washington case was brought by three investors who claimed their stolen crypto was sent to Binance by hackers
A U.S. federal judge has ordered the transfer of a lawsuit against Binance to Florida, citing substantial overlap with a prior case already filed in that district.
The decision, issued April 21 by U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein, moves an August 2024 lawsuit from Washington to the Southern District of Florida, where a related complaint was filed in June 2023. Both cases accuse Binance of allowing cybercriminals to launder stolen cryptocurrency through its platform.
Judge Rothstein ruled that the allegations in the two lawsuits are “sufficiently similar” and involve overlapping classes of plaintiffs—individuals whose digital assets were allegedly stolen and transferred to Binance.com accounts.
“Although the two complaints describe the proposed classes in slightly different terms, both encompass the same proposed class of individuals,” Rothstein wrote, applying the federal court’s first-to-file rule, which prioritizes earlier filings to avoid duplicative litigation.
The Washington case was brought by three investors who claimed their stolen crypto was sent to Binance by hackers. They named Binance and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao as defendants. The plaintiffs argued that their lawsuit introduced distinct claims and that transferring the case could delay proceedings.
Rothstein rejected the claim, saying there was no clear evidence of delay and emphasized that consolidation promotes judicial efficiency. She added that to allow two parallel class actions to proceed in seperate districts would be duplicative and inefficient.
The earlier Florida suit, filed by Michael Osterer in 2023, made similar claims against Binance and was referred to arbitration in July 2024. Binance has not publicly commented on the latest ruling.
