**Washington – President Trump has pardoned billionaire cryptocurrency exchange founder Changpeng Zhao, who pleaded guilty to a money laundering-related charge. Trump claimed that Zhao was a victim of political prosecution by the Biden administration.**
Changpeng Zhao, a Chinese-born Canadian and founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, pleaded guilty in November 2023 to charges of enabling money laundering while serving as CEO of the exchange. The plea was part of a multi-billion-dollar settlement Binance reached with the Biden-era Justice Department in 2023. Following the settlement, Zhao stepped down from his role as CEO.
After his April 2024 sentencing, Zhao served four months in prison, and his company was barred from operating in the United States.
“President Trump exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
“In their desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry, the Biden administration pursued Mr. Zhao despite no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims. The Biden administration sought to imprison Mr. Zhao for three years, a sentence so outside sentencing guidelines that even the judge said he had never heard of this in his 30-year career. These actions by the Biden Administration severely damaged the United States’ reputation as a global leader in technology and innovation. The Biden administration’s war on crypto is over.”
According to Forbes, Zhao has a net worth of roughly $86 billion. He founded Binance in 2017 and still owns the vast majority of the exchange.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/changpeng-zhao-trump-pardons-binance-crypto-exchange-founder-money-laundering/