Changpeng Zhao, founder of Binance, the world's largest crypto-currency exchange, faces a 36-month prison sentence for violating anti-money laundering laws, US prosecutors said in a court filing on Tuesday. The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington heard that Zhao is scheduled to be sentenced on April 30 in Seattle. He resigned as a director at Binance last November after admitting the breaches and following the company's acceptance of a $4.32 billion fine.
US prosecutors argued that "Given the magnitude of Zhao's willful violation of US law and its consequences, a sentence in excess of the usual 36-month criminal penalties is warranted". The usual criminal penalties provide for a maximum sentence of 18 months, but Zhao, who remained free in the United States on $175 million bail, had agreed not to appeal a sentence of up to that length.
The US authorities accused Binance of failing to report more than 100,000 suspicious transactions with terrorist groups, including Hamas, al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). In addition, they claimed that the platform supported the sale of child pornography and profited from ransomware.
In addition to his resignation, Zhao, also known as CZ, has agreed to pay $50 million and cease all activity related to Binance, which he founded in 2017. The penalty imposed on Binance includes a criminal fine of $1.81 billion and restitution of $2.51 billion.
