Key facts:
Binance is required to abide by a court order to block accounts, the lawyer said.
The lawyer revealed that the FIOD has responded to some affected.
The lawyer Paula Bermúdez was in communication with CriptoNoticias to tell some details of the blocking of accounts and the confiscation of cryptocurrencies that Binance made to several users in Colombia. A situation in which they have been for six months without everyone being able to recover their funds.
As an advisor to some of those affected, Paula Bermúdez told us that in principle what they have done with their team is to understand the origin of the situation. That is, what led the Dutch police — which is known as FIOD (Netherlands Tax Information and Investigation Service) — to initiate an investigation for alleged money laundering under its laws.
In this way, they identified that the investigation ordered a precautionary measure for Binance consisting of the seizure of certain cryptocurrency wallets. This due to its high suspicion of being linked to a money laundering process. With this they realized that Binance did not make the blocks by its own decision, but under the framework of a court order that it is obliged to abide by.
Binance users must show the legality of the origin of their cryptocurrencies
Lawyer Paula Bermúdez said that she has directed those affected who have consulted her to, under the principle of presumption of innocence, constitute themselves as a party to the process and prove the legality of the origin of their cryptocurrencies on Binance.
Likewise, he clarified that the case of each user is particular because he has to go in to prove the legality of the funds he had in his wallet. And, furthermore, prove that he has no ties to those who are involved in the possible punishable conduct of money laundering.
By doing so, he indicated that they could request the lifting of the precautionary measure consisting of the seizure of their wallet. This is what some of those affected who have already started legal action to recover their cryptocurrencies are working on, as reported to CriptoNoticias weeks ago.
Each one had different amounts in their account in cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin (BTC), USDT and others. Some had just a few savings. While others stored large volumes. Proof of this is Tommas, who told us that his funds were around USD 1 million, as well as Juan Pombo of USD 143,000 and César Maya of USD 60,000.
Since the blocking occurred six months ago in October 2021, affected users have attempted to contact Binance or FIOD customer support. But they have not gotten an answer on whether they can be unlocked or get their funds back, they said.
They have only received a mass message from the Dutch police at the beginning notifying that their accounts have been blocked for being linked to funds from suspected money laundering activity. However, something changed recently, which would show some signs of progress in the case.
This is because, from Colombia, the lawyer Paula Bermúdez revealed to us that the FIOD has already responded to some affected people who communicated. Although he could not give more details due to the professional secrecy that he maintains with his clients.