Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison after pleading guilty to violating anti-trust laws. money laundering of the united states. The sentence was handed down Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Richard Jones in Seattle. The 47-year-old businessman was not immediately detained and left the building after the hearing ended. It is not yet clear in which federal detention center he will serve his sentence.

As Reuters pointed out, prosecutors had requested a three-year prison sentence, considering that the executive branch had initiated a “Wild West” model that benefited members of terrorist organizations and other criminals who conduct operations with cryptocurrencies. However, Judge Jones said the recommended sentence was inappropriate because it had not been proven that Zhao knew the funds flowing through the platform were related to crimes.

Changpeng Zhao will be imprisoned for four months

Today’s sentencing hearing is the final chapter of a long judicial process in which the world’s most used cryptocurrency exchange is at its epicenter. The court ruled that Zhao Binance growth The platform faced the problem of compliance with the regulations governing financial institutions in the United States, and was therefore used for various illegal activities.

Binance reportedly processed at least $800 million in transactions between 2018 and 2022 that violated US regulations. They claim that some customers made unauthorized transactions with Iranian residents. It is stated that the platform is also used by Hamas, which is declared a terrorist by Washington, to raise money through Bitcoin. There was also no shortage of operations related to computer crimes such as ransomware.

It is worth noting that the definition known today completes the agreement Zhao had previously reached with Justice. Businessman made the payment 50 million dollars He was fined and resigned as CEO of Binance. For its part, the platform agreed to pay a $4.3 billion fine and engage independent supervisory actors to ensure compliance with anti-money laundering regulations.

Before the sentence was read, the businessman was at his home in the United Arab Emirates, which has no extradition agreement with the United States. Going to Seattle to face the charges may have helped avoid major consequences, even though it wasn’t enough to get the parole the defense was demanding. Zhao must serve his sentence in prison, although it is unclear how long it will last.

The Binance founder was not detained and was allowed to leave the building immediately after hearing his sentence. His destination could now be a federal prison, according to the AP. This may be because not a US citizen He said he was a high-profile personality (who was born in China and immigrated to Canada at the age of 12) and cooperated with American law enforcement. The defense requested consideration of the Federal Detention Center SeaTac.

If this finally happens, Zhao will become the richest person to enter a US federal detention center in history. Despite the ups and downs in the cryptocurrency world, the businessman has a fortune of approximately $40 billion. In fact, at the time I wrote this article, he was ranked 38th among the richest people on the planet, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Pictures | Binance

in Xataka | Another consequence of TikTok’s possible ban in the USA: The end of CapCut