US EditionWhite House pardons billionaire crypto exec Changpeng Zhao two years after Binance founder pleaded guilty in landmark DOJ investigation
Trump's pardon ends DOJ monitoring of Binance after founder served prison for anti-money laundering failures; Binance paid $4 billion in fines, potentially enabling US market return.
- On Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed a pardon for Changpeng Zhao, founder of Binance, with Karoline Leavitt saying it ended `The Biden Administration's war on crypto.'
- After pleading guilty, Changpeng Zhao stepped down as Binance CEO under the plea deal, served a four-month prison term, and was released last year after a $4.3 billion settlement.
- Prosecutors documented that Binance allowed more than 1.5 million trades totaling nearly $900 million that violated U.S. sanctions, with the judge noting Zhao's decision to ignore U.S. banking requirements.
- The pardon enables Changpeng Zhao to conduct more business operations in the U.S., and the BNB token added about 3% minutes after the news.
- Critics and some senators warned that ties between Changpeng Zhao, Binance, and World Liberty Financial’s $2 billion investment raise integrity concerns as the pardon caps a monthslong effort.
475 Articles
475 Articles
Addressing Trump's Claims About the Pardon of Binance Founder
In defending his Oct. 23 pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, President Donald Trump claimed that Zhao was the victim of a Biden administration “witch hunt.” The billionaire executive known as “CZ” pleaded guilty to allowing money-laundering through his cryptocurrency company. He was fined $50 million and served a four-month sentence in a low-security prison and halfway house. Trump’s comments came during a Nov. 2 interview on CBS News’ “60…
The Best Presidential Pardon a Stablecoin Can Buy
Illustration by Daniel MedinaPresidential pardons are almost always controversial. Sometimes they are shrouded in mystery, like President Gerald Ford’s 1974 pardon of Richard Nixon. Was the pardon pre-arranged when Nixon appointed Ford as his vice president in late 1973, or did Ford grant it less than a year later to move on from a scandal that had consumed the nation?Sometimes pardons appear to be transactional, such as Bill Clinton’s 2001 pard…
Donald Trump's Crypto Corruption Machine Is Whirring Along At A Stunning Pace
On Thursday, Donald Trump announced a presidential pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao. Zhao, better known as CZ, pleaded guilty to money laundering charges in November 2023, then spent most of the summer of 2024 in a U.S. prison before his September 2024 release. Binance is the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by a wide margin, and as one might expect from the hub for unaccountable fake money specifically designed to elude any regul…
What to Know About Trump’s Pardon of Binance’s Founder
Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, the richest man in crypto, has been granted a pardon from President Donald Trump, marking a dramatic reversal of a yearslong federal crackdown on crypto. Zhao, who founded cryptocurrency exchange Binance in 2017 and is worth an estimated $85 billion, pled guilty to violating anti-money laundering laws in 2023 and served four months in prison. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Binance, the world’s biggest crypto exchange in te…
Did the billionaire Binance bro pay for his pardon?
“Better to ask forgiveness than permission.” Those were the words of Changpeng Zhao – the billionaire founder of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange – when dismissing the need for anti–money laundering safeguards. This week, his strategy proved both vatic and effective. Zhao, better known as “CZ,” received a presidential pardon for the money laundering charge to which he pleaded guilty in 2023.Just a year ago, CZ was sentenced to four m…
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