President Trump has pardoned Binance Founder Changpeng Zhao amid crypto controversy.
NaijaOnPoint Nigeria reports that President Donald Trump has officially pardoned Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who previously pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering through the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, the White House announced Thursday.
The surprise pardon comes just two months after a Wall Street Journal report revealed that the Trump family’s $4.5 billion crypto venture benefited from “a partnership with an under-the-radar trading platform quietly administered by Binance.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the move, saying Trump exercised his “constitutional authority” to correct what she called the Biden administration’s politically motivated “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,” Leavitt stated.
Zhao’s pardon follows Trump’s commutation of former New York Rep. George Santos’ 87-month prison sentence just a week earlier.
Zhao, who stepped down as Binance CEO in November 2023, had pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act and agreed to a $4.3 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice. He was sentenced in April 2024 to four months in prison, far below the three-year term prosecutors had requested.
Leavitt criticized that prosecution as “an excessive attack on innovation,” adding, “The Biden Administration’s war on crypto is over.”
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