United States President, Donald Trump, has granted a pardon to Binance founder, Changpeng Zhao, who earlier pleaded guilty to facilitating money laundering during his tenure at the cryptocurrency exchange.
This was disclosed in a statement by the White House on Thursday.
The pardon follows a Wall Street Journal report two months ago revealing that the Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture, which has earned roughly $4.5 billion since the 2024 election, benefited from a partnership with a low-profile trading platform reportedly managed by Binance.
“President Trump exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
“In their desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry, the Biden Administration pursued Mr. Zhao despite no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims,” Leavitt added.
Trump’s pardon of Zhao came less than a week after he commuted the 87-month prison sentence of former New York Representative George Santos, who had pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
In November 2023, Zhao pleaded guilty in federal court in Seattle and agreed to resign as Binance CEO as part of a $4.3 billion settlement between the company and the U.S. Department of Justice.
According to the DOJ, Zhao was charged with violating the Bank Secrecy Act for failing to establish an effective anti-money-laundering program and for willfully breaching U.S. economic sanctions “in a deliberate and calculated effort to profit from the U.S. market without implementing controls required by law.”
Binance faced charges of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and conspiracy.
Zhao was sentenced in April 2024 to four months in prison.
Leavitt referenced that recommendation in her statement on Thursday following Zhao’s pardon.
“The Biden Administration sought to imprison Mr. Zhao for three years, a sentence so outside Sentencing Guidelines that even the Judge said he had never heard of this in his 30-year career,” Leavitt stated.
“These actions by the Biden Administration severely damaged the United States’ reputation as a global leader in technology and innovation.
“The Biden Administration’s war on crypto is over,” she added.
The company itself consented to pay over $4 billion in fines and penalties as part of a coordinated settlement with the U.S. government in 2023.
