Binance founder Changpeng Zhao has discussed his prison sentence and presidential pardon, claiming that the Biden administration wanted to send a message to the crypto industry with his case.
Biden Admin Crackdown Led CZ To PrisonOn Tuesday, Binance co-founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao shared his thoughts on the Biden administration’s crypto approach and the reasons behind his four-month prison sentence back in 2024.
That same year, CZ stepped down as Binance’s CEO after pleading guilty to Anti-Money Laundering (AML) violations, paying a $50 million penalty. In April 2024, the crypto tycoon was sentenced to four months in prison, which he served between June and September of that year.
Zhao argued that he had a single charge of violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), with no money-laundering charges, “no fraud,” and “no victims,” which initially suggested he would not get a prison sentence.
In US history, no one went to jail for this single one charge. In most cases, (…) people are not being charged. Of the people who are charged, they usually end up with a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA). I was the only one who went to prison.
Binance Founder’s Pardon Was ‘A Bit of A Surprise’Speaking about his pardon, the Binance co-founder shared he was partially surprised when it happened. He affirmed that he expected to be pardoned after US President Donald Trump’s pardon of Ross Ulbricht and Arthur Hayes, and the current administration’s push to make the US “the crypto capital of the world.”
However, “it was a bit of a surprise in terms of timing,” as he did not know when it would happen. “The timing was not known to me; this is a black box process. You submit the petition and just wait. You don’t know what’s going on,” CZ asserted.
Notably, this decision drew major backlash from members of Congress, who questioned the US President’s rationale for granting the pardon and raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest.
CZ told Fox Business that he has no ties to the first family, rejecting claims that he paid to be pardoned. “There’s no business relationship between me and Mr. Trump, his family, or any of his businesses. There’s no investment relationship, no shareholding, nothing.”
In November, he explained that he doesn’t know Zhao personally but had heard that his case was part of the Biden administration’s “witch hunt” against the industry and was a “victim of weaponization” like him and many others.
