Binance sees $780 million of outflows since being sued by the SEC for breaking securities rules and running a 'web of deception'

• Binance customers pulled $790 million from the exchange in the 24 hours after it was sued by the SEC.
• The regulator said that the exchange was operating illegally and has violated securities rules.

Customers pulled close to $1 billion from Binance in the 24 hours after it was sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission for violating securities rules and operating an illegal exchange.

The regulator's complaint says the world's biggest crypto exchange was involved in a "web of deception" meant to flaunt securities rules.

Binance has seen $780 in net outflows in ethereum since being sued by the SEC, blockchain analytics firm Nansen tweeted on Tuesday. Investors have deposited $871.7 worth of ethereum in the past 24 hours, though there were $1.65 billion in total outflows, Nansen said.

That comes after regulators filed 13 charges against Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao on Monday. Among other violations, regulators have accused the firm of misrepresenting trading controls on Binance.US, as well as secretly allowing "high-value" US clients to trade on Binance.com, though American customers are supposed to restricted from its main investment platform.

"Through 13 charges, we allege that Zhao and Binance entities engaged in an extensive web of deception, conflicts of interest, lack of disclosure, and calculated evasion of the law," SEC chief Gary Gensler said in a statement. "They attempted to evade U.S. securities laws by announcing sham controls that they disregarded behind the scenes so that they could keep high-value U.S. customers on their platforms. The public should beware of investing any of their hard-earned assets with or on these unlawful platforms."

Binance and Binance.US disputed the claims in a blog post and in a post on Twitter.

The exchange has been scrutinized for its compliance with US laws for months. In February, the Wall Street Journal reported that the SEC was investigating the relationship between Binance.US and Sigma Chain and Merit Peak, two trading firms that are affiliated with Zhao. Part of the SEC's complaint says that Sigma Chain was a wash trading operation controlled by Zhao and meant to inflate Binance's trading volumes.