Binance

Pleased as punch. Binance says it’s pleased to pay more than $4B to settle federal charges that it engaged in money laundering and unlicensed money transmitting activity.

Would Binance have been ecstatic if it had to pay a larger penalty?

“Binance became the world’s largest cryptocurrency in part because of the crimes it committed—now it is paying one of the largest corporate penalties in US history,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland in announcing the settlement on Nov. 21.

In a bid to restore a tiny bit of its tattered image, Binance applied some PR spin on its cooperation with federal law enforcement officials

The company “is pleased to be one of the most significant global partners for law enforcement in its fight to combat illicit financial activity around the world.”

That’s pretty rich coming from a company that just pleaded guilty to a massive scandal that included transferring money to Cuba, Syria and the Russian-occupied region of Ukraine.

Or as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen put it, Binance allowed money to flow to terrorists, cybercriminals and child abusers through its platforms in the pursuit of profit.

There’s no way to spin that.

Homestead Jeff?… Why does the New York Times refer to media heavyweight Jeff Zucker as a “longtime Manhattanite” in its story about him bidding for two British media properties.

If Zucker resided in Tottenville, would the NYT call him a “longtime Staten Islander.” How about “longtime Bronxite,” in the event that Zucker lived in Mott Haven?

There’s more than a whiff of snobbery and elitism with the NYT’s use of Manhattanite.

And a note to the NYT: there’s a world of difference between someone living in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood compared to a person living in Washington Heights.

Zucker was born in Homestead, Florida. In its next profile of Zucker, the NYT should call him “a Florida man.” If that doesn’t work: call him a “New Yorker.”

Or perhaps the paper should just throw recast itself as The Manhattan Times.

Pity the white billionaires… The Indianapolis Colts PR staff has some clean-up work to do after team owner Jim Irsay told HBO’s Real Sports on Nov. 22 that he was arrested for driving under the influence in 2014 only because he is a wealthy white guy.

“I am prejudiced against because I’m a rich, white billionaire,” he said. “If I’m just the average guy down the block, they’re not pulling me in, of course not.”

Asked if he feared pushback for his remarks, Irsay said: "I don’t care what it sounds like. It’s the truth ... I could give a damn what people think how anything sounds or sounds like. The truth is the truth, and I know the truth.”

Jim Irsay inherited the Colts from his dad, Robert, in 1997 after he won a legal fight for control of the team with his mother-in-law.

The elder Irsay triggered his own PR crisis after he infamously moved the Baltimore Colts in the middle of the night on March 28-29, 1984 to Indianapolis.