Binance chief Changpeng Zhao stepped down and pleaded guilty to breaking U.S. anti-money laundering laws as part of a $4.3 billion settlement resolving a years-long probe into the world’s largest crypto exchange, prosecutors said on Tuesday.
The agreement, characterized by prosecutors as one of the most substantial corporate penalties in U.S. history, involves Zhao personally paying $50 million. This deal deals another blow to the cryptocurrency industry, which has been grappling with various investigations. It follows closely on the heels of the recent fraud conviction of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. pleaded guilty to breaking
Despite the legal scrutiny and the $50 million penalty, several legal experts view the outcome as favorable for Zhao. This resolution leaves his substantial wealth intact and enables him to retain his stake in Binance, the exchange he founded in 2017. It’s worth noting that Binance faced allegations of breaking U.S. anti-money laundering and sanctions laws, with authorities asserting that the exchange failed to report over 100,000 suspicious transactions involving organizations identified by the U.S. as terrorist groups, including Hamas, al Qaeda, and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
The exchange also never reported transactions with websites devoted to selling child sexual abuse materials and was one of the largest recipients of ransomware proceeds, they said.