Binance, the largest global crypto exchange by trading volume, and Chief Executive Changpeng Zhao were reportedly taken off guard by the U.S. Commodities and Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) decision to file a civil lawsuit against the company on Monday. The firm, which has for years avoided establishing a permanent headquarters, had been in dialogue with U.S. and other regulators about operating compliantly in the hundred-plus jurisdictions it services.

Just last month, Binance Chief Strategy Officer Patrick Hillman told the Wall Street Journal that the exchange had closed “gaps” that formed in its compliance strategy as a result of the exchange’s rapid expansion. At the time, Hillman more or less suggested Binance was prepared to eat flour for its previous crimes, committed unwillingly, but was also having substantive conversations with regulators that would allow it to continue existing.