US demands 3 years in prison for Binance founder CZ

As the U.S. cryptocurrency industry continues to struggle under heightened legal and regulatory pressure, with several large players facing lawsuits, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sentenced Changpeng Zhao to three years in prison. CZ’), founder of Binance.

Specifically, CZ, who stepped down as CEO of Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, and pleaded guilty to violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws as part of a $4.3 billion settlement in November last year, was able to spend $36. . He was sentenced April 24 to several months in prison, according to a sentencing memo.

In fact, U.S. prosecutors proposed this sentence to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, even though federal sentencing advisory guidelines set a maximum sentence of 18 months for CZ, and CZ agreed not to appeal any term less than that.

Why are the sentences so long?

According to prosecutors, CZ’s alleged crimes, which include failing to report more than 100,000 suspicious transactions with terrorist groups including Hamas, Al Qaeda and ISIS, selling child sexual abuse material and dealing in ransomware, justify such a sentence. It was revealed. :

“A custodial sentence of 36 months (…) is sufficient to reflect the seriousness of the offence, promote respect for the law, provide an appropriate deterrent and achieve the sentencing objectives, but is no greater than necessary. (…) Given Zhao’s willful violation of U.S. law and the magnitude of its consequences, a sentence of 36 months under the above guidelines is justified.”

Binance seeks probation instead

Not long after the DOJ filed its documents, CZ’s Legal Times filed its own sentencing memorandum, arguing that such a prison sentence would set a precedent for Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) cases of a similar nature and that probation would be preferable instead. They explained it as follows:

“None of the defendants in very similar BSA cases has ever been sentenced to prison. Mr. Zhao should not be the first. Given the need to avoid unreasonable sentencing disparities, Mr. Zhao’s acceptance of special responsibility, his long history of philanthropy and community service, the five and a half months he has already spent away from his family since pleading guilty, and the collateral consequences of his crimes. , Mr. Zhao, who was found guilty, respectfully requests that the court sentence him to probation.”

Earlier this year, the U.S. states of Florida and Alaska bowed to regulatory pressure placed on Binance’s U.S. subsidiary, Binance.US, suspending its local license and preventing it from providing services to residents of those states, Finbold reports. I did. On January 26th.

Meanwhile, recent developments have not had a significant impact on the price of Binance Coin (BNB), the native cryptocurrency asset of the Binance ecosystem. Binance Coin (BNB) is currently trading at $614.44, up 0.67% on the day and up 12.40% throughout the week, accumulating gains. Last month, it increased by 4.42%.

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