On Wednesday, Donald Trump, the former President, granted a pardon to Changpeng Zhao, the founder of the crypto exchange Binance, according to a statement from White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt.
Leavitt remarked, “President Trump used his constitutional power to pardon Mr. Zhao, who faced prosecution from the Biden Administration as part of their stance against cryptocurrency.” She added that the actions taken against Zhao were unjustified since there were no accusations of fraud or identifiable victims.
Zhao’s legal troubles resulted in a four-month prison sentence after he reached a plea deal with the Justice Department concerning charges related to money laundering at Binance during his leadership.
In line with this, the U.S. government mandated Binance to pay over $4 billion in fines and forfeitures, while Zhao himself agreed to a fine of $50 million.
A Binance spokesperson hasn’t yet provided a comment regarding this development.
Leavitt also mentioned that, “These actions from the Biden Administration have critically impacted the US’s standing as a leader in technology and innovation. The hostility towards cryptocurrency from the Biden Administration is now concluded.”
Back in November 2023, the Justice Department described the settlement with both Binance and Zhao as a collaborative effort involving entities like the Treasury, CFTC, and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Attorney General Merrick Garland pointed out that “Binance grew to be the largest cryptocurrency exchange partly due to the crimes it engaged in, necessitating one of the largest corporate penalties in U.S. history.”
This piece was initially published on NBCNews.com
