Offers full and unconditional pardon to Zhao
Binance founder served time in prison last year
Latest in series of pardons for convicted crypto executives
By Gram Slattery and Chris Prentice
WASHINGTON, Oct 23 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the convicted founder of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange, the White House said Thursday, in the latest move by Trump to boost the crypto industry and expunge its past misdeeds.
Zhao, a billionaire known as "CZ" who is one of the most influential figures in crypto, quit in 2023 as Binance chief after the company pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program and paid a penalty of $4.3 billion.
Zhao was prosecuted by the Biden administration "in their war on cryptocurrency," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
Since he returned to office, Trump's family has reaped millions of dollars from a variety of crypto ventures - moves criticized by political rivals and ethics experts citing the potential for conflicts of interest. The White House has denied those claims and on Thursday Leavitt said it carefully examined all pardons.
In a post on social media platform X, Zhao said he was "deeply grateful for today’s pardon and to President Trump for upholding America’s commitment to fairness, innovation, and justice." He added: "Will do everything we can to help make America the Capital of Crypto."
FULL AND UNCONDITIONAL PARDON
U.S. authorities said in 2023 that Binance had failed to report suspicious transactions with organizations including Hamas and al Qaeda and with websites dedicated to selling child sexual abuse materials.
Zhao, a citizen of Canada who was born in China, personally paid a $50 million fine and served nearly four months in prison last year after pleading guilty to the same charge as his company.
However, he kept his Binance stake, while one of his appointees was made chief executive.
"I made mistakes, and I must take responsibility," Zhao said when he stepped down.
The full and unconditional pardon could pave the way for him to return to the business he co-founded in 2017. It may also offer the chance for Binance to expand in the United States as the crypto industry booms under the Trump administration.
A spokesperson for Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange by trading volumes, thanked Trump for his leadership.
News of the pardon, which Zhao told a podcaster in May he had been seeking, was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The U.S. Constitution gives the president broad power to issue pardons to wipe away federal criminal convictions, or commutations to modify sentences. Historically, presidents have largely waited until the end of their terms to use such powers, but there is no requirement that they do so.
During his second term, Trump has made sweeping use of his clemency powers and Zhao's is the latest in a series of pardons that Trump has granted to crypto executives and entrepreneurs, as well as others convicted of white-collar crimes.
The crypto sector poured money into Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, during which the Republican candidate promised to end what he called a crackdown by the Biden administration on the industry.
SUPPORT FOR WORLD LIBERTY FINANCIAL
Binance itself this year offered support to one of the Trump family's crypto ventures, World Liberty Financial.
In May, Binance accepted World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin as payment for a $2 billion investment in the exchange by Abu Dhabi investment firm MGX. Binance's decision to accept USD1, which was launched only in March, provided a big boost to the World Liberty venture, and still accounts for most of the USD1 in circulation.
Democratic U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who previously criticized the MGX deal, said on Thursday: "First, Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to a criminal money laundering charge. Then he boosted one of Donald Trump’s crypto ventures and lobbied for a pardon. Today, Donald Trump did his part and pardoned him."
A spokesperson for Binance declined to comment on Warren's criticism.
In March, the president pardoned the three co-founders of crypto exchange BitMEX
, opens new tab who had pleaded guilty in 2022 for failing to implement a Bank Secrecy Act-compliant anti-money laundering program.
Trump also pardoned in January Ross Ulbricht, who was sentenced to life in prison for running the underground online marketplace Silk Road but remained a popular figure within the crypto community.
Outside crypto, Trump has pardoned the founder of electric truck company Nikola, who was convicted of fraud, and commuted the sentence of the executive behind the now-defunct startup Ozy Media.
On his first day back in office, Trump pardoned approximately 1,500 individuals charged in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
