Once considered the most powerful person in crypto, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao has been sent to prison in the US for allowing money laundering.
Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison for allowing rampant money laundering on the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.to one count of failing to take required anti-money-laundering measures and stepped down as Binance agreed to pay $US4.3 billion to settle related allegations. US officials said Zhao deliberately looked the other way as people conducted transactions that supported child sex abuse, the illegal drug trade and terrorism.
“He made a business decision that violating US law was the best way to attract users, build his company, and line his pockets,” the Justice Department wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed last week.Zhao’s attorneys, insisted he should receive no prison term at all, citing his willingness to come from the United Arab Emirates, where he and his family live, to the US to plead guilty, despite the UAE’s lack of an extradition treaty with the US.
“I want to take responsibility and close this chapter in my life,” Zhao said when he entered his guilty plea to one count of failing to prevent money laundering. “I want to come back. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here today.” Zhao was perhaps best known as the chief rival to Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, which was the second-largest crypto exchange before it collapsed in 2022.But prosecutors say no one has ever violated the Bank Secrecy Act to the extent Zhao did. The three-year prison term they were seeking was twice the guideline range for the crime. Binance allowed more than 1.
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