Binance’s founder and CEO, Changpeng Zhao, widely known as “CZ,” has received a prison sentence of four months.
A week ago, the United States Department of Justice proposed a 36-month incarceration for Zhao, suggesting a term significantly longer than the 18 months mentioned in his plea deal, as reported by Coindesk.
In November of the previous year, Zhao resigned from his position and admitted guilt to numerous charges led by the Department of Justice among other federal bodies.
At that moment, it was disclosed that Binance had “participated in activities against anti-money laundering laws, operated without a proper license, and breached sanctions regulations,” as indicated by the DOJ, marking it as “the most significant corporate agreement” incorporating criminal accusations against a top executive. Zhao acknowledged his failure to institute an adequate anti-money laundering scheme.
It was further revealed that Binance, Zhao, and affiliates consciously neglected to register as a money services enterprise and contravened the Bank Secrecy Act by not setting up an anti-money laundering infrastructure, according to a document filing. The document detailed that these actions were part of an intentional strategy to exploit the U.S. market for profit, completely disregarding U.S. legislation.
Launched in June 2017, Binance rapidly grew to become the world’s leading crypto exchange within half a year. It boasts over $22.7 billion in 24-hour trading volume, significantly surpassing Coinbase, the second largest platform, which records a $3.1 billion trading volume, as per CoinMarketCap data.
Compiled by Techarena.au.
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