Binance Suspends Employee for Insider Trading and Front-Running Allegations

Binance has suspended a staff member accused of using insider information from a previous role at BNB Chain to front-run a token launch.

The action follows an internal investigation launched on March 23 after a complaint was filed with the exchange’s internal audit team.

The Investigation

The suspect, who was part of the Binance Wallet team at the time of the alleged misconduct, should not have had access to non-public information about the project involved. However, the platform’s investigation revealed that before being transferred to the department, the employee had worked in business development at BNB Chain.

Using insights from his previous role and familiarity with on-chain projects, the accused anticipated a market reaction to an upcoming token generation event (TGE). Before the public launch announcement, he used multiple linked wallet addresses to acquire several of the tokens. He then sold part of his holdings for profit while retaining the rest, which still had considerable unrealized gains.

“This behavior constitutes front-running based on non-public information obtained from his previous role and is a clear breach of company policy,” the Wallet team stated in an X post.

As a result, the staff member was immediately suspended, and the company is working with authorities in their jurisdiction to pursue legal action. It also confirmed that any associated assets would be handled according to applicable laws.

Community Suspicion and Rewards

Binance further addressed the role of community reports in exposing the incident, stating that while it appreciated public efforts, rewards would only be given to those who submitted information through its official whistleblowing email.

A total of $100,000 will be equally distributed among four anonymous individuals who used the platform’s official reporting channel.

Notably, the company has not disclosed the suspect’s identity, but multiple X users have pointed to Freddie Ng, a former operations manager at BNB Chain, as a likely culprit. The reports highlighted that his LinkedIn profile shows he joined Binance Wallet’s business development team last month.

Screenshots shared by X user “py” show that a wallet flagged by DEX Screener for profiting $82,400 from U DEX Platform (UUU) tokens had received the coins from another wallet initially funded by the address “freddieng.bnb,” which Ng had previously shared on his social media account.

The case is reminiscent of other crypto scandals, including that of former Coinbase manager Ishan Wahi, who was convicted in 2023 for leaking token listing information. It also resembles the insider trading case of former OpenSea product head Nate Chastain, who was accused of using secret ETH burner wallets to buy NFTs before they were featured on the platform.