THE LAGOS STATE WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT OFFICE (LSWMO), YESTERDAY, SEALED OFF SOME BUILDINGS/PROPERTIES ACROSS THE STATE OVER DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTAL INFRACTIONS.(PHOTO). #PRESS RELEASE
Trump pardons Binance founder Changpeng Zhao after conviction
President Donald Trump has granted a pardon to Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who had previously pleaded guilty to charges related to enabling money laundering while leading the cryptocurrency exchange.
The White House said the pardon was an exercise of Trump’s constitutional authority and criticized the previous administration’s prosecution of Zhao. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that the Biden administration pursued Zhao despite there being no allegations of fraud or identifiable victims, framing the case as part of a broader crackdown on the cryptocurrency industry.
Zhao, who pleaded guilty in November 2023 in Seattle federal court, agreed to step down as Binance CEO as part of a $4.3 billion settlement with the Department of Justice. He had been charged with violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to implement an effective anti-money-laundering program and willfully breaching U.S. economic sanctions. Binance itself faced charges of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, violating the International Emergency Powers Act, and conspiracy.
He was sentenced to four months in prison in April 2024, far below the three-year term sought by federal prosecutors. Leavitt highlighted that even the presiding judge had called the requested sentence unprecedented in their 30-year career. She added that the prosecution had harmed the United States’ standing in technology and innovation and declared that the “Biden administration’s war on crypto is over.”
The pardon follows Trump’s recent commutation of former New York Rep. George Santos’s 87-month prison sentence for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
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