After Binance founder Zhao Changpeng pleaded guilty in November last year, the sentencing hearing is scheduled to take place on April 30th. Due to Zhao’s confession and cooperation, some legal experts believe that he may avoid imprisonment. However, former prosecutors believe that Binance’s involvement in the Hamas money laundering case may be detrimental to Zhao Changpeng.
(Brief summary: Court modifies CZ’s bail conditions! Requires Zhao Changpeng to surrender his Canadian passport and stay in the United States before sentencing.)
(Background: Afraid that CZ will flee to Canada? The US government applies to modify Zhao Changpeng’s bail conditions: confiscate his passport and limit his place of residence..)
In November last year, Binance reached a settlement agreement with the US Department of Justice, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and other institutions. They pleaded guilty and agreed to pay a $4.3 billion fine. Binance’s founder, Zhao Changpeng, admitted to violating US anti-money laundering laws and stepped down as CEO of Binance. He paid $175 million in bail and obtained release.
According to Cointelegraph’s report, Zhao Changpeng will appear in court on April 30th. Judge Richard Jones will hear statements from the prosecutor and Zhao Changpeng’s lawyer at the US Western District Federal Court in Washington. This is one of the most high-profile legal battles in the cryptocurrency field since former FTX founder SBF was convicted and sentenced.
According to US sentencing guidelines, Richard Jones can sentence Zhao Changpeng to up to 10 years in prison. However, the recommended sentence for the charges he faces is 12 to 18 months. Although SBF was sentenced to 25 years last month, some believe that Zhao Changpeng may not be imprisoned considering his confession and cooperation.
Moe Vela, who served as the executive director of the Office of the Vice President when President Biden was the Vice President, stated that regardless of whether the judge imposes a harsh sentence on Zhao Changpeng, US authorities may try to send a message to illegal participants in the cryptocurrency field through this case. However, he speculates that Zhao Changpeng may receive lenient treatment from the judge due to his cooperation and confession.
Mark Bini, a former Assistant US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, believes that unlike SBF’s criminal case, Zhao Changpeng’s case is more like “regulatory violations.” However, the events related to Hamas attacks on Israel may influence the judge’s decision regarding Zhao Changpeng:
(Additional reading: Cut off Hamas’ money flow! Israel requests Binance to freeze over 100 cryptocurrency accounts and confiscate millions of dollars.)
In November last year, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen criticized Binance for facilitating over 1.5 million virtual currency transactions that violated US sanctions. Binance allowed transactions related to terrorist organizations such as the Hamas armed wing, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Al-Qaeda, and the Islamic State (IS), but never submitted any suspicious activity reports.
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