US President Donald Trump said he pardoned Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao after lobbying and support by “a lot of people” that told him he wasn’t guilty.
CZ’s pardon was signed on Wednesday, and Binance confirmed the presidential order to Cointelegraph in a statement.
During a press conference on Thursday, Trump said he chose to pardon the Binance founder because he “was recommended by a lot of people,” had a lot of support and “people say that he wasn’t guilty of anything.”
“I don’t know him, I don’t believe I’ve ever met him, but I’ve been told he had a lot of support, and they said that what he did is not even a crime, it wasn’t a crime, he was persecuted by the Biden Administration.”
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Zhao was given a four-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to one count of violating the US Bank Secrecy Act for failing to maintain an effective anti–money laundering program at Binance.
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CZ’s crypto attorney Teresa Goody Guillén on Thursday said the pardon was the right call because her client had “a single charge of failure to have an effective compliance program. NO fraud, NO victims, NO criminal history. NO money laundering.”
“CZ is the first and only known first-time offender in US history to receive a prison sentence for this single, non-fraud-related charge,” she said.
“The judge found NO evidence that he knew of any illicit transactions and that it was reasonable for him to believe there were no illicit funds on the platform.”
CZ ready to get back to work
Following the pardon, CZ took to X and said he was “deeply grateful,” and would do “everything we can to help make America the Capital of Crypto and advance Web3 worldwide.”
As part of his plea deal with authorities, CZ was forced to step down as CEO of Binance and was prohibited from working at the exchange. A pardon could allow him to rejoin Binance.
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