Trump pardons Binance founder Zhao after 2024 money-laundering conviction
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The news: Donald Trump has pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, whose crypto exchange was accused of becoming a colossal money-laundering hub that processed USD898 million ($1.4 billion) in illegal transactions before he served time for compliance failures.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that Trump “exercised his constitutional authority” and that Zhao had been prosecuted “by the Biden administration in their war on cryptocurrency.”
“The Biden Administration’s war on crypto is over,” she added.
Zhao served four months in prison after pleading guilty in 2023 to failing to implement adequate anti-money laundering measures at the world’s largest crypto exchange.
Zhao stepped down as Binance CEO under the plea deal, which included a record USD4.3 billion settlement with the US government, but retained his controlling stake.
The context: The Wall Street Journal first reported the move, noting Zhao had pursued a pardon for months and that Binance had backed the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial venture, including by facilitating a USD2 billion investment in its dollar-pegged token, USD1.
US authorities said at the time that Zhao’s compliance failures enabled trading by sanctioned groups, including figures associated with the military wing of Hamas, and that Binance processed at least 1.1 million transactions worth about USD898 million in violation of US sanctions.
The pardon may allow Binance to re-enter the US market and could bring the Justice Department’s monitorship to an early end, though Treasury oversight remains. Zhao, who lives in Abu Dhabi, is worth USD54.5 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The sources: The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg
