‘War is over’: Trump pardons $134 billion CEO
Donald Trump has pardoned the founder of the world’s largest crypto exchange after he pleaded guilty to violating money laundering laws.
Donald Trump has pardoned the billionaire founder of the world’s largest crypto exchange almost two years after he pleaded guilty to violating money laundering laws.
Changpeng Zhao, commonly known as CZ, was sentenced to four months in prison in 2024 after he pleaded guilty to charges of enabling money laundering at cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
Mr Zhao, who has a net worth of $US87.2 billion ($A134 billion) and is ranked 21 on Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires list, stepped down from the company and agreed to pay $US50 million in fines. Binance also agreed to pay $US4 billion in fines.
Announcing his pardon today, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Mr Zhao was “prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency”.
“In their desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry, the Biden Administration pursued Mr. Zhao despite no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims,” she said.
“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.”
In a post on X, Mr Zhao said he was “deeply grateful” for the pardon and for “President Trump for upholding America’s commitment to fairness, innovation, and justice”.“Will do everything we can to help make America the Capital of Crypto and advance web3 worldwide.”
Originally published as ‘War is over’: Trump pardons $134 billion CEO
