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The founder of the crypto exchange giant Binance, Changpeng Zhao, has been handed a four-month prison sentence.
A Seattle federal judge has held the Chinese-Canadian entrepreneur personally responsible for his actions, handing down the term in light of his guilty plea to money laundering charges.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao sentenced
As we reported in November last year, Zhao was part of an elaborate plea agreement with U.S. authorities. The company shifted billions of Tether (USDT) stablecoins to cover the cost of the settlement, which caught the company red-handed for money laundering.
Zhao would personally pay $50 million for his part in the scheme involving Binance’s failure to report more than 100,000 suspicious transactions to government watchdogs.
This consistent rule-breaking and failure to report illicit transactions would reach an estimated $898 million before the U.S. government cracked down on the crypto company.
The founder is still the largest controlling stakeowner in the company despite stepping down when the settlement was agreed. The initial settlement was negotiated between the Justice Department, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and the Treasury Department.
The government entities had been pursuing an 18-month sentence, which was then escalated last week to 36 months, according to court filings. However, the term handed down by Judge Richard Jones in Seattle was considerably lighter than expected.
This has been a surprise for spectators as the company was linked to illicit transactions involving terrorist groups such as Hamas, al Qaeda, and ISIS. So, it was presumed that the push for a longer term would stick to Zhao, but Judge Jones didn’t hit Zhao with a landmark stay behind bars.
Zhao’s legal representation had pleaded for a sentence that was comparable to those of other rule breakers in the same crypto arena, saying “No defendant in a remotely similar BSA case has ever been sentenced to incarceration. Mr. Zhao should not be the first.”
Onlookers and commentators had projected that Zhao would face the same fate as FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Convictions for fraud and conspiracy were pinned on the crypto entrepreneur and his now-shattered company to a landmark 25 years in prison.
In conclusion to the sentencing, Zhao agreed not to file any appeal to the decision for 18 months.
Image: Binance Newsroom.
