Binance Founder CZ Gets Four Months In Prison: An ”Egregious Miscarriage Of Justice” Or A Fair Sentence?
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, was sentenced to four months in prison after pleading guilty to anti-money laundering violations, a term that some called a miscarriage of justice and that others said was about right.
During the two and a half hour sentencing hearing on April 30, prosecutors, the defense team and the Judge presiding the case all acknowledged that Zhao was not your typical criminal defendant.
Judge Richard Jones had even kicked off the hearing by telling Zhao and his defense team that everything he had seen about his “history and characteristics are of a mitigating nature.”
Zhao was portrayed as a do-gooder, philanthropist, and a family man who accepted the consequences of his wrongdoing. These mitigating factors, coupled with it being Zhao’s first offense, ultimately resulted in him receiving a much shorter prison term than the three years that prosecutors had wanted.
“An Egregious Miscarriage Of Justice”
Still, prosecutors had portrayed Zhao as a brazen lawbreaker who displayed a blatant disregard for regulatory and legal frameworks. They also accused the former Binance executive of willfully failing to implement an effective anti-money laundering program that was required by the Bank Secrecy Act.
The Judge asked prosecutor Kevin Mosley if his team’s 36-month sentencing recommendation factored in Zhao’s global philanthropy efforts. “Lots of really good people do bad things and violate the law,” Mosley responded.
The message conveyed by the sentence is that ”crime pays,” said Dennis Kelleher, CEO of Better Markets, in an April 30 press release.
“That is an egregious miscarriage of justice and sends exactly the wrong message to criminals worldwide,” he said ”As Binance’s founder, owner, and leader, CZ willfully, knowingly, and intentionally designed and ran Binance to be a crypto money laundering superstore for the most despicable global criminals.”
”A Just Sentence”
But former Binance colleague Patrick Hillman believes that the judge “handed down a just sentence.” He justified the outcome by highlighting “the gravity of both CZ’s missteps and his attempts to correct past mistakes.”
Meanwhile, former federal enforcement attorney Braden Perry told The Block that federal sentencing guidelines suggest a 10 to 16 month sentence for first-time nonviolent offenders. That was the biggest factor in Zhao’s sentencing, he said.
“Here, the alleged crime and the fact that CZ was a first-time nonviolent offender all led the judge to analyze what other sentences similarly situated individuals have received,” Perry said. “As the defense noted, most, if not all, had previously received no prison time.”
CZ Expresses Regret For His Actions At Binance
“I apologize for my poor decisions and accept full responsibility,” Zhao said in an April 24 letter submitted to the court. “Rest assured that [this] will never happen again.”
I would like to thank everyone for your care and support, be it writing letters, showing support on X, or in any other form. They all mean a lot to me and keep me strong. I will do my time, conclude this phase and focus on the next chapter of my life (education).
I will remain a…
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) May 1, 2024
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