(New York) Donald Trump pardoned Changpeng Zhao, former boss of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange platform, convicted in April 2024 for violating anti-money laundering legislation, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told AFP on Thursday.
The latter justified this decision by the supposed relentlessness of the government of former US President Joe Biden against the entrepreneur, who had already pleaded guilty and served his four-month prison sentence before being released in September 2024.
“Driven by its desire to punish the cryptocurrency industry, the Biden government launched proceedings against Mr. Zhao without him being accused of fraud or without victims having been identified,” said Karoline Leavitt.
Binance was accused of violating US money laundering laws, allowing criminal organizations to pass funds through its platform.
In November 2023, to avoid a trial, the group reached an agreement with the US government, which provided for the resignation of Changpeng Zhao from his position as general manager, as well as the payment of some $4.3 billion in fines to two agencies of the US Treasury.
Removed from all operational functions, Changpeng Zhao remains the majority shareholder of Binance.
For Karoline Leavitt, the prosecutions led by Donald Trump’s predecessor “severely tarnished the reputation of the United States as a leader in technology and innovation. The Biden government’s war against cryptocurrencies is over. »
PHOTO JIM WATSON, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt
Since his presidential campaign, Donald Trump has become a defender and promoter of the cryptocurrency sector, after having criticized it for years.
Once invested, he eased the regulatory framework imposed on the cryptocurrency industry, which had contributed more than $100 million to his campaign.
Several of his relatives have also taken various stakes in projects linked to cryptocurrencies, which brought the family more than a billion dollars during the last twelve months, according to a recent estimate from the Financial Times.
In May, to take a 2 billion stake in the capital of Binance, the Emirati fund MGX used the digital currency USD1, issued by the company World Liberty Financial, supported by the Trump family which derives income from it.
These operations have earned Donald Trump numerous accusations of conflicts of interest.
Changpeng Zhao “contributed to one of Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency businesses and advocated for an amnesty,” Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren responded Thursday. “Today, Donald Trump is doing his part and granting amnesty. »
“If Congress does not prevent this kind of corruption through legislation, it will be responsible for this lawless state,” she added.
The former boss of Binance, the world’s leading cryptocurrency platform, said he was “deeply grateful” to the American president and for his commitment “to fairness, innovation and justice”, in a message published on the social network X.
The Chinese entrepreneur promised to do “everything” to “help the United States become the capital of cryptocurrencies”.
Changpeng Zhao’s amnesty follows a series of pardons and commutations granted by the American president, from the rioters of January 6, 2020 at the Capitol to the former Republican elected to the House of Representatives George Santos, sentenced to 7 years in prison for fraud.
