Qiao Changpeng, also known as “CZ”, the founder and CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has been sentenced to four months in prison.
Six days ago, the U.S. Department of Justice recommended a 36-month prison sentence for Zhao, which would be “far more than the 18 months stipulated in the plea agreement,” according to CoinDesk.
Last November, Mr. Zhao stepped down from his leadership role and pleaded guilty to numerous violations brought through the Justice Department and other U.S. government agencies.
At the time, Binance admitted to engaging in “anti-money laundering, unauthorized transfers, and sanctions violations,” in what the Justice Department called the “largest corporate resolution” involving criminal charges against executives. Mr. Zhao had previously pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an anti-money laundering program.
Binance, Chao and other related entities violated the Bank Secrecy Act by “knowingly failing to register as money services businesses” and implementing anti-money laundering programs, the complaint says. . It added that each party is suspected of disobeying U.S. law and violating U.S. economic sanctions “in a deliberate and calculated effort to benefit from the U.S. market.”
Binance was founded in June 2017 and became the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange within 180 days. According to data from CoinMarketCap, trading volume in the past 24 hours exceeded $22.7 billion, significantly exceeding the $3.1 billion trading volume of Coinbase, the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange.