President Trump has pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering through the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.

Washington

President Trump has granted a pardon to Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, a major cryptocurrency exchange. Zhao was previously convicted for failing to prevent criminal activities on Binance, including money laundering, and had settled with the Department of Justice for $4.3 billion. 

The White House stated that the pardon was an exercise of presidential authority, describing Zhao as having been prosecuted by the Biden administration during its crackdown on the cryptocurrency industry. The decision comes shortly after Trump commuted the sentence of former Representative George Santos.

Trump pardons Binance founder Changpeng Zhao

President Trump continues his streak of high-profile criminal pardons this morning just days after the president pardoned disgraced former representative George Santos. He doled out one for a crypto mogul. So CBS News correspondent Chanel Call has been monitoring this situation and joins us now with more about what we know about this newly pardoned businessman. Chanel. So, Jules, we know this pardon happened earlier today in the morning. So let's talk about who Shengpeng Zhao is, right? He founded this company called Binance that is the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. But that platform, I should note, was also used by criminals to essentially move money connected to child sex abuse, to drug trafficking and to terrorism. And so Zhao went to prison, Jules, for failing to stop criminals from accessing Binance and also using it for those crimes. He also pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering. And then in 2023, Jules, he settled for $4.3 billion with the DOJ. So how do we get here today? How did this pardon happen? Well, we know that Zhao has asked Trump for a pardon before and that he also has some pretty deep ties to World Liberty Financial. Now that may sound familiar because that's a crypto venture that President Trump and his sons Eric and Don Jr. launched together last September. Now, according to President Trump's most recent financial disclosure, he appears to have made more than $57 million just last year from World Liberty Financial. And White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt spoke about this earlier today. I'll read you part of her statement. She says, quote, President Trump exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao, who was persecuted, prosecuted, that is, by the Biden administration in their war on cryptocurrency. And their desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry. The Biden administration pursued Mr. Zhao despite no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims. Again, I want to mention that this is somebody who settled with the DOJ for $4.3 billion in 2023. And again, the timing here, important to note, Jules, this comes just a couple of days after the president also commuted the 87 month prison sentence of former New York Representative George Santos. Chanel Call.

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