Crypto
CZ, once the most powerful player in the crypto industry. — © AP
Changpeng Zhao, the former CEO of Binance, was sentenced to four months in prison on Tuesday. With a failed policy, he gave terrorists and cybercriminals free rein on the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, the verdict read.
The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Richard Jones in Seattle, who rejected prosecutors’ request to give 47-year-old Zhao a three-year prison sentence. Zhao (47), also known as “CZ”, was once the most powerful player in the crypto industry. Now he is the second to be sentenced to prison among the major crypto bosses.
Flanked by half a dozen lawyers, he was sentenced to three months in prison. And with that, a chapter has been closed in a long-standing case. Zhao had already paid a $50 million fine and resigned as CEO of Binance as part of a compromise with the government in November.
Binance also pleaded guilty to violations of money laundering laws in America, agreeing to a fine of 4.3 billion euros and the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee the company.
