Changpeng Zhao , the founder and former CEO of Binance , is likely to walk out of prison on Friday after serving afour - calendar month sentencefor failing to hold an effective roll in the hay - your - customer ( KYC ) computer programme to fight money laundering on the world ’s large crypto trading political platform . And there are still a lot of questions about what he does next .
Zhao is banned from “ manage or operating ” Binance under his agreement with the U.S. Justice Department , though he still reportedly own a 90 % stake in the company . Zhao was previously get all of the braggart decisions at the society , but Binance now has a seven - phallus board .
“ I failed here , ” Zhao said at his sentencing , agree to theAssociated Press . “ I deeply regret my failure , and I am sad . ”
Changpeng Zhao, former chief executive officer of Binance, arrives at federal court in Seattle, Washington, US, on Tuesday, 24 December 2024.© David Ryder/Bloomberg via Getty Images
But Zhao likely does n’t mind the trade - offs imply in serving just four months while getting to keep so much money for himself . prosecuting officer quoted Zhao ’s own words in acourt filingearlier this year . “ Better to ask for pardon than license , ” Zhao said , referring to the old proverb about doing something bad while knowing you could get in difficulty for it .
Binance was fined $ 4.3 billion as part of its colonization over money laundering thrill with the U.S. Department of Justice , the Commodity Futures Trading Commission , and the U.S. Treasury Department . But Zhao paid a fine of just $ 50 million in conjunction with his slammer sentence . Zhao currently has an estimated nett Charles Frederick Worth of about $ 61 billion , according toForbes .
Zhao ’s prison sentence was officially schedule to stop Sunday , but prison official can liberate someone in the beginning if the day falls on a weekend or a major vacation , as noted by crypto news outletDecrypt .
Zhao , who founded Binance in 2017 , was implemental in helping bring down convicted fraudster Sam Bankman - Fried , the laminitis of FTX , albeit it ’s indecipherable if that ’s what he had intended to do . It all started when Zhao bought a 20 % stake in FTX in 2019 . Zhao and Bankman - Fried apparently had a fall out in mid-2021 when FTX was trying to get a license to operate in Gibraltar , and regulators had asked for fiscal info from shareowner , including Zhao , who refused to provide the information .
This frustrated Bankman - Fried , who buy Zhao out for about $ 2 billion , which include a deal of FTT relic , accord toReuters . FTT was a token create by Bankman - Fried , so you could see where this is drop dead . Zhao tried to sell hundreds of million of dollar worth of FTT , and since it was imaginary net money , that caused a huge problem since it was n’t support by anything genuine . That ’s when everythingstarted to collapsefor Bankman - Fried , sending ripples throughout his crypto empire , exposing his massive fraud as people strain to pull out money that simply was n’t there .
Bankman - Fried is presently serving a 25 - yr sentence for fraud and conspiracy . Caroline Ellison , another major player in the FTX scandal , was sentenced Tuesday totwo yearsfor her role and will be forced to forfeit $ 11 billion , much more than Zhao had to fork over .
What ’s next for Zhao and will he be yield to Binance in any content to work decision ? Current CEO of Binance Richard Teng was asked that question sooner this week on the podcastAltcoin Daily .
“ CZ ’s a major shareowner , ” Teng said . “ Those question are meant for CZ , they ’re not meant for me . ”
Changpeng ZhaoCryptoCZFTXSam Bankman - fry
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