U.S. President Donald Trump has pardoned Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ). Zhao, in 2023, had pleaded guilty for violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and breaching the national money laundering laws that led him to a four-month prison sentence between April and September 2024. CZ had petitioned President Trump for a pardon plea in May this year.
The development was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, closely following which CZ confirmed the development.
In a press conference following this decision, President Trump said what CZ did was “not even crime” and that he was “persecuted by the Biden administration.”
Owing to the buzz around this development, the BNB token is garnering major attention from market participants. In the last one hour, the token has surged by 5.45 percent, bringing its price to $1,150 at the time of writing as per CoinMarketCap. BNB is the utility token of the Binance ecosystem and CZ is among massive and influential holders of the token.
Last week, a senior correspondent from FOX Biz, Charles Gasparino had claimed that this pardon for CZ was right around the corner, citing sources close to the Binance founder.
At the time, Gasparino had claimed that the topic has divided the White House internally in opinion.
“Trump, people close CZ say, is leaning toward a pardon. Some in the White House are worrying about the optics of a pardon given the President’s business interests in crypto so the situation is obviously fluid,” Gasparino had claimed. “Many Trump insiders believe the fraud case against Zhao was pretty weak, and certainly not something that merited a felony charge and jail time.”
CZ had responded to Gasparino’s post saying it would be a “great news if true” — while highlighting that no fraud charges were substaintiated against him and that he only pleaded guilty to a “single violation” of the BSA.
“I believe I am only person to ever be sentenced to jail in US history for a single violation of BSA, with no other charges, no prior history. Thank you for the coverage,” the 48-year-old crypto mogul had posted on X.
After pleading guilty in 2023, Binance had shelled out $4.3 billion as a settlement fine. CZ also paid a penalty of $50 million and stepped down from his role as Binance’s CEO.