2024-04-30 20:18:35
The founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance will be imprisoned for four months. The judge thus held his own well under the prosecution’s request.
30/04/2024, 22:1830/04/2024, 22:23
Image: keystone
The founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, Changpeng Zhao, has been sentenced to several months in prison in the United States. A Seattle judge on Tuesday set the 47-year-old’s sentence at four months, US media reported from the courtroom. Zhao and Binance admitted to violating anti-money laundering laws in November. He gave up all positions on the crypto exchange. Prosecutors had demanded three years in prison for Zhao, while defense lawyers argued for a suspended sentence.
Zhao is likely to become the richest inmate in a US prison: On Tuesday, he was ranked 38th on Bloomberg Financial Services’ list of billionaires with an estimated fortune of nearly $40 billion.
Judge Richard Jones acknowledged that despite the threat of punishment, Zhao voluntarily came to the United States and cooperated with the investigating authorities. He believes it is unlikely that the Binance founder will commit crime in the future – but at the same time the sentence should also have a deterrent effect. Zhao said he wants to build an online education platform in the future.
Doubtful cash flows
Binance is a trading platform for digital currencies such as Bitcoin. In terms of trading volume, it is the largest marketplace of its kind. After years of investigation, the US judiciary accused Binance and Zhao of circumventing money laundering and sanctions laws.
Despite millions of customers in the United States, the operators of the crypto exchange did not set up the necessary controls. This made questionable money flows possible, including some $900 million between the US and Iran, which is subject to sanctions. According to the prosecution’s allegations, Zhao instructed Binance employees to communicate with American customers by phone in order to leave no traces.
At the same time, the Binance case attracted much less attention than the collapse of competitor FTX, whose founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud in March. Binance always emphasized that US authorities did not accuse the company of embezzling customer funds or manipulating markets. However, US Attorney General Merrick Garland pointed out in November that Binance had become the world’s largest trading center for cryptocurrencies due to the violations.
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