A United States, US, District court, on Tuesday, sentenced the founder and former Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao to four months in prison.
The court judge, Richard Jones said Zhao, whose nickname is
CZ, has also satisfied the requirement of him to pay $50 million in fines.
The judge also won’t impose five months of probation as was
recommended by the probation officer, Mail Online reports.
In November 2023, Zhao pleaded guilty to a money laundering charge.
The 47-year-old admitted to violating the Bank Secrecy Act
by willfully failing to set up an effective anti-money laundering system at
Binance, the cryptocurrency exchange he founded and ran as CEO from July 2017
to November 2023.
Binance also pleaded guilty to similar charges from the US
Department of Justice in November 2023 and was forced to pay $4.3 billion in
fines and restitution for failing to register as a money transmitting business,
Forbes reported.
U.S. prosecutors had urged the court to sentence Zhao to
three years in prison after he pleaded guilty to violating laws against money
laundering.
They argued that sentencing Zhao to twice the maximum 18
months recommended under federal guidelines would reflect the magnitude of his
willful violations, and send a message that would deter others.
In March, a U.S. district court had ordered that Zhao must
surrender his Canadian passport and notify the court before travelling within
the country.
This came after U.S. District Judge, Honorable Richard A.
Jones restricted his bond conditions.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com