The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a lawsuit against Binance Holdings Ltd and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, for allegedly failing to restrict its U.S. customers from its platform and misleading investors about its market surveillance controls.

The American regulatory agency filed the complaint on Monday in federal court in Washington, DC, where it listed 13 charges against Binance and Mr Zhao, Al Jazeera reports.

According to reports, the U.S. government is accusing Binance and Mr Zhao of allegedly “controlling customers” assets, and allowing them to commingle and divert customer funds, alleging that Binance had created separate U.S. entities “as part of an elaborate scheme to evade U.S. federal securities laws”.

Reacting to the suit, Binance in a tweet via its verified platform on Monday, says it believes the lawsuits against its platform were baseless and vowed to defend itself vigorously.

“We believe the lawsuit is baseless and we intend to defend ourselves vigorously. However, we want to address what has become an all-too-common occurrence for entities and individuals operating in the American digital assets industry,” the tweet reads in parts.

The American Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) had in March accused Bainace of breaking numerous U.S. financial laws, including rules intended to thwart money laundering, the BBC reported.