TL;DR Breakdown Court filings reveal SEC’s 2020 investigation into Binance.US, indicating long-term scrutiny. SEC’s probe centers on alleged securities law violations and substantial profits by Binance.US. Lawsuit filed by the SEC targets Binance.US, its entities, and its CEO, seeking an asset freeze. Binance.US, the American arm of the global cryptocurrency exchange Binance, is under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for possible violations of federal securities laws. Court filings released on Tuesday revealed that the SEC has been scrutinizing Binance.US since 2020, with evidence pointing to hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit profits. In a lawsuit filed on Monday, the SEC accused Binance’s U.S. and global entities, as well as its CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, of operating an unregistered securities exchange by facilitating the trading of cryptocurrencies. The regulatory body has subsequently sought to freeze Binance.US assets, intensifying the legal battle between the crypto exchange and the SEC. According to court filings, the SEC initiated an internal investigation and assigned officials to gather testimony starting on August 17, 2020. Colby Steele, a lawyer representing the SEC,…