Changpeng Zhao agreed to plead guilty to money laundering charges and step down from Binance as part of a sweeping settlement with the Department of Justice and top regulators.
The founder and CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, agreed to plead guilty to money laundering violations and to step down from the world’s largest crypto exchange as part of a sweeping settlement with U.S. law enforcement and financial regulators.
CZ, as he’s widely known, will also pay a $50 million fine, while Binance will pay $4.3 billion in fines as part of the deal. The settlement will allow Binance to continue operating.
The announcement from the Department of Justice, Treasury Department and Commodity Futures Trading Commission comes less than a month after federal prosecutors convinced a jury to find CZ’s one-time rival, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, guilty of seven criminal charges, including fraud and money laundering.
“Binance became the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange in part because of the crimes it committed — now it is paying one of the largest corporate penalties in U.S. history,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland in a statement.
The DOJ said it plans to maintain its aggressive stance against crypto players.
“In just the past month, the Justice Department has successfully prosecuted the CEOs of two of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges in two separate criminal cases,” the attorney general said.
