Russian investigators used personal and transaction data supplied by Binance in a terrorism-financing case against IT specialist Yuri Belenkiy, despite Binance having formally exited Russia nearly two years earlier. Belenkiy, a 49-year-old Russian passport holder with a Bulgarian residence permit, is accused of sending more than $700 in crypto to Ukrainian recipients between January 2023 and March 2024. Russian authorities say the payments supported a group linked to the Azov military unit, which Moscow designates as a terrorist organization. Belenkiy remains in a Russian jail awaiting trial, and the allegations have not been adjudicated. Binance announced the sale of its entire Russian business to CommEX on Sept. 27, 2023, saying the market no longer fit its compliance strategy and denying any continuing revenue split or buyback option. The documents reviewed by Reuters show that a later law enforcement request produced Belenkiy's date of birth, address, phone number, passport number, passport copies and Bulgarian residence permit from an address using the binanceholdings.ru domain. Investigators also sought information on other Binance customers who sent funds to the same wallet, although Reuters could not establish whether Binance identified them. The case does not establish that Binance secretly continued operating its former Russian exchange. It does show the difference between ending local operations and removing historical customer data, which financial companies may be required to retain under anti-money-laundering and recordkeeping rules. Binance said it cooperates with lawful law enforcement requests under applicable legal, privacy and regulatory requirements, and does not determine the charges authorities file or how information is used after disclosure. Its public guidelines call for supporting documents and a valid court order, police order or warrant from a competent jurisdiction, with requests stating their legal basis. Binance may seek further information, may notify users unless barred by a valid order or warrant, and says preservation requests retain records for 90 days and can be renewed. The public record does not establish which Binance legal entity controlled Belenkiy's account, which law compelled production or whether he received notice. The episode also illustrates how KYC (customer identity verification) can connect pseudonymous blockchain addresses to names and documents, while proposals involving zero-knowledge proofs aim to let users prove compliance attributes without repeatedly sharing full identity files. Belenkiy's Bulgarian residence permit raises a possible European data-protection issue, but the available facts do not establish that he used an EU Binance entity or that the GDPR governed the disclosure. Even where GDPR applies, the right to erasure is not unconditional when retention is required by law or needed for legal claims. Moving crypto to self-custody or closing an account can limit future exchange activity but cannot erase public blockchain records or data that an intermediary must legally preserve. Companies may leave markets on a corporate timetable, while personal data leaves, if at all, on a legal one.