US Launches Investigation into Jack Dorsey’s Block
Federal prosecutors in the United States are investigating fintech company Block, Inc., led by CEO Jack Dorsey, after a whistleblower revealed evidence of ongoing and widespread compliance violations at the company’s payment platforms Square and Cash App.
The whistleblower, a former Block employee, provided the Southern District of New York prosecutors with documents showing that Square and Cash App processed numerous transactions for users in countries that are subject to economic sanctions, as well as transactions for terrorist groups involving cryptocurrencies.
NBC News reported on May 1 that approximately 100 pages of these documents were provided to the prosecutors, with many of the transactions being for small amounts and involving entities in countries such as Iran, Russia, Cuba, and Venezuela.
The whistleblower also claimed that most of these transactions, which included credit card, fiat, and Bitcoin transactions, were not reported to the government.
Furthermore, the former employee alleged that Block did not take appropriate action to address the compliance breaches after being made aware of them. They stated, “The compliance section, starting from the ground up, was fundamentally flawed.”
