An astonishing judgment emerged from a United States District Court as Changpeng Zhao, the renowned founder and ex-CEO of Binance, received a four-month prison sentence on Tuesday.
In a significant ruling by Judge Richard Jones, Zhao, also known as CZ, was also directed to pay a hefty fine of $50 million.
Contrary to the recommendation by the probation officer, Mail Online disclosed that the judge decided against imposing a five-month probation term.
Back in November 2023, Zhao entered a guilty plea to a charge related to money laundering.
The 47-year-old confessed to the deliberate violation of the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to establish an effective anti-money laundering framework during his tenure as the CEO of Binance between July 2017 and November 2023.
For similar charges, Binance also pleaded guilty to the US Department of Justice in November 2023 and was slapped with a hefty penalty of $4.3 billion for failure to register as a money transmitting business, as reported by Forbes.
Following his guilty plea for breaching anti-money laundering laws, US prosecutors pushed for a three-year imprisonment term for Zhao.
The prosecutors argued that assigning a sentence twice the recommended maximum of 18 months would underscore the gravity of his deliberate violations and serve as a deterrent to others.
In a court directive issued in March, Zhao was mandated to surrender his Canadian passport and seek court permission before traveling within the US, as stipulated by US District Judge Richard A. Jones upon amending his bond conditions.