President Donald Trump has issued a pardon for Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the founder of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance.
Zhao recently served time in prison after pleading guilty to a felony charge related to failing to maintain an anti-money-laundering program on the Binance platform. This failure allowed criminals to move money connected to activities including child sex abuse, drug trafficking, and terrorism.
The pardon follows Zhao’s prior public request for the action, which would nullify his conviction.
Zhao pleaded guilty in November, acknowledging his failure to implement proper controls. “I failed here,” Zhao told the court last year. “I deeply regret my failure, and I am sorry.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a statement defending the pardon.
She claimed that the previous Biden administration’s prosecution of Zhao was driven by a “desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry,” asserting there were “no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims.”
READ: Don’t Get Rekt: The Beginner’s Essential Guide To Safe Crypto Trading
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