Changpeng Zhao, founder and former CEO of the Binance cryptocurrency platform, was sentenced this Tuesday to four months in prison. The judge of the Seattle court, in the United States, convicted “CZ”, as he is known, for the crimes of violating North American regulations against money laundering.
“CZ” pleaded guilty in November after reaching an agreement with the United States Department of Justice. In addition to paying an individual fine of $50 million (€46.8 million) and another $4.3 billion (€4 billion) payable by Binance, he resigned as CEO.
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US prosecutors wanted “CZ” to serve a three-year prison sentence because they believed he violated US regulations. “on an unprecedented scale” and that he demonstrated “a deliberate disregard” for Binance’s legal responsibilities. It is almost double the maximum 18-month sentence provided for the crimes he was charged with.
Last year, prosecutors accused the company of applying a “Wild West” model and failing to report more than 100,000 suspicious transactions to authorities, including those from terrorist groups such as the Islamic State and US-sanctioned countries such as Iran.
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The decision, which was made by Judge Richard Jones, took into account the fact that the founder of Binance had given “prioritize growth and profits over compliance with US laws and regulations.” However, he considered that it is unlikely that he will commit crimes of this type again and highlighted the lack of a criminal record. The judge also highlighted that “everything he saw about Zhao’s history and characteristics” was of a “positive nature” and, as “CZ” is a citizen of Canadian and Chinese nationality and lives in the United Arab Emirates, the court recognized that “ voluntarily,” he reported to the United States.
The former CEO of Binance admitted during his testimony in court “that he failed.” “I deeply regret my mistake, I apologize,” he quotes Associated Press.
oh The edgewho followed the reading of the sentence in Seattle, pointed out that the businessman’s defense highlighted “issues related to classified information”. For now, it is unclear whether this information was reflected in the sentence, which is substantially less than the three years in prison advocated by US prosecutors.
Zhao was free to wait for the sentence to be read, after paying bail of 175 million dollars (163.7 million euros).
The sentence of the ex-CEO of Binance was handed down after, in the past, the founder and former CEO of FTX, another cryptocurrency platform, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud, money laundering and conspiracy that led to falência da company.
Former CEO of the FTX platform sentenced to 25 years in prison
(Updated at 8:36 pm with more information)
Source: Observadora
