Changpeng Zhao, founder of the world largest cryptocurrency exchange platform, Binance, was on Tuesday, sentenced to four months in U.S. prison after he was pleaded guilty to money laundering charges.
This, was the second crypto boss to be jailed, following Bankman-Fried 25 years in prison for pilfering eight billion dollars from customers of his now-bankrupt FTX exchange.
Once considered the power man in the crypto sector, Zhao known as “CZ,” was in November pleaded guilty to one count for failure to violating US anti-money laundering laws, and Binance agreed to pay $4.3 billion to settle related allegations.
He steeped down from his position the company as part of the deal with U.S. authorities.
The U.S. court handed Mr. Zhao a four months jail term in counter of prosecutors three-year proposition.
The investigations revealed that Binance under Zhao deliberately allowed free flow of transactions in support of Islamic terrorist group movements such as Hamas’s Qassam Brigades, al-Qaeda.
“He made a business decision that violating US law was the best way to attract users, build his company, and line his pockets,” Justice Department lawyers said of Zhao in a sentencing memorandum.
“The sentence in this case will not just send a message to Zhao but also to the world.”
Attorneys for Zhao countered in a filing that being punished with probation is just, appropriate, and in line with legal precedent.
“I made mistakes, and I must take responsibility,” Zhao, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, in November.
“There is no excuse for my failure to establish the necessary compliance controls at Binance,” Zhao wrote in a letter to the court. “I wish I could change that part of Binance’s story. But under my direction, Binance has now implemented the most stringent anti-money laundering controls of any non-US exchange, and those controls have been in place since 2022.”
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