A U.S. judge has transferred the Binance lawsuit to Florida, citing the "first-to-file rule."

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph. Reported that U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein ruled on April 21 to transfer a lawsuit accusing Binance of aiding money laundering from Washington to the Southern District of Florida.

The judge stated that the case has substantial overlap with a similar lawsuit filed in Florida in June 2023, and the transfer could avoid duplicate litigation and improve judicial efficiency. Although the plaintiff's attorney argued that there are differences between the two lawsuits, including the Washington case naming former CEO Zhao Changpeng as a defendant, the judge found that the categories of plaintiffs involved in both cases are sufficiently similar to apply the "first-filed rule."

The case was initially filed in Washington in August 2024, accusing the Binance platform of being used to launder stolen cryptocurrency.