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The former CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), has been sentenced to four months in prison. The ruling by Judge Richard Jones is much lower than the 3 years of imprisonment requested by the prosecutors.
Summary
Binance: former CEO CZ and the sentence of four months in prison instead of the requested 36
On Tuesday, Changpeng Zhao (or CZ), former CEO of the famous crypto-exchange Binance, was sentenced to four months in prison in Seattle for violating anti-money laundering laws.
The sentence has come from Judge Richard Jones of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington.
Jones seems to have not granted the request for 36 months of imprisonment for CZ, made by the prosecutors. Specifically, the public prosecutors would have stated the following:
“Intentionally violating US laws by Zhao was not an accident or oversight. He made the business decision that breaking US law was the best way to attract users, build his company, and fill his pockets.”
On the other hand, CZ’s defense lawyers had requested probation for him, stating that the former CEO of Binance had repented of his crime and had shown that he had taken responsibility for his actions.
In this regard, here is the version of CZ’s lawyers:
“Mr. Zhao is a forty-seven-year-old who has committed his first crime. His life has been built on three pillars: devotion to family, the development of technology (particularly Binance) as a force for positive change in the world, and service to the common good.”
Binance: former CEO CZ and Judge Jones’ decision to four months in prison
Despite the versions of the public prosecutors and CZ’s defense lawyers, Judge Jones has decided that the former CEO of Binance will serve four months in prison.
Specifically, the judge did not agree with the prosecutors’ request for 3 years, simply because it never emerged that Zhao was aware of the illegal activity.
DOJ attorney arguing that judge should be able to infer CZ was aware of illicit activity, citing a previous case where a judge inferred a defendant knew of illicit activity.
— @[email protected] (@nikhileshde) April 30, 2024
Judge Richard Jones stated that he disagrees with the Department of Justice’s request for enhanced sentencing guidelines that would increase the sentence from 18 months to 3 years: “There is no evidence that the defendant was ever informed” of the illegal activity.
The Department of Justice lawyer argues that the judge should be able to infer that CZ was aware of illegal activities, citing a previous case in which a judge inferred that a defendant was aware of illegal activities.
In November 2023, CZ pleaded guilty for violating the Bank Secrecy Act, agreeing to pay a fine of 50 million dollars and resign as CEO of Binance.
Not only that, since appearing in court in Seattle, Washington, Zhao has not been able to return to Dubai, where his partner and some of his children live.
The new educational project without involving cryptocurrencies
Meanwhile, last March, CZ launched a new educational project, without involving cryptocurrencies though. It is a new “gamified” platform that aims to provide free education for everyone.
The name of the CZ signed platform is “Giggle Academy”, defined as gamified and adaptive, created with the aim of educating disadvantaged children in developing countries, providing content that covers education from first to twelfth grade.
Despite CZ wanting to emphasize that cryptos are not involved, he has not been able to exclude NFTs from Giggle Academy.
And indeed, the new platform plans to make its educational content a gambling game, using a system that includes points, scores, rankings, and NFT badges. In this way, the project aims to become in the future a “learn-to-earn” system.