BILLIONAIRE Changpeng Zhao has been pardoned by President Donald Trump after he was sentenced to prison for enabling money laundering.
Trump announced the pardon of the one of the most powerful people in the crypto world on October 23.
Zhao previously pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering while leading his company, Binance.
The cryptocurrency mogul pleaded guilty in November 2023 and was charged with failing to “implement an effective anti-money-laundering program and for willfully violating U.S. economic sanctions in a deliberate and calculated effort to profit from the U.S. market without implementing controls required by U.S. law,” according to the Department of Justice.
He was sentenced to four months in jail on April 2024.
Zhao stepped down from his role at Binance following a $4.3 billion settlement with the Department of Justice, CNBC reported.
Binance was charged with violating the International Emergency Powers Act and conspiracy.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the pardon in a statement.
“President Trump exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
“In their desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry, the Biden Administration pursued Mr. Zhao despite no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims.”
Leavitt noted that federal prosecutors sought to extend Zhao’s prison sentence under Biden.
“The Biden Administration sought to imprison Mr. Zhao for three years, a sentence so outside Sentencing Guidelines that even the Judge said he had never heard of this in his 30-year career,” she continued.
“These actions by the Biden Administration severely damaged the United States’ reputation as a global leader in technology and innovation.
“The Biden Administration’s war on crypto is over.”
Zhao founded the cryptocurrency company Binance in 2017 and it has since become one of the largest crypto companies in the space.
In 2023, the company wrote a blog post taking responsibility for its “misguided decisions.”
“Binance grew at an extremely fast pace globally, in a new and evolving industry that was in the early stages of regulation, and Binance made misguided decisions along the way,” the company wrote in a lengthy post.
“Today, Binance takes responsibility for this past chapter.”
Zhao is now one of the richest people in the world with a net worth of $55 billion.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/15388571/changpeng-zhao-cryptocurrency-pardon-donald-trump/