(Bloomberg) – Binance co-founder Qiao Changpeng could be sentenced to up to three years in prison if U.S. prosecutors’ efforts to secure a sentence are successful. More than 160 friends, colleagues, and investors are determined to ensure that the crypto executive escapes prison for good.
A nearly 350-page letter filed Wednesday in a Seattle court by Mr. Zhao's friends and colleagues provides insight into the private life of Mr. Zhao, one of the world's richest men. The authors include two mothers of his five children, industry giants inside and outside of crypto, government elites, college friends, and dozens of his employees.
The list of names includes Fosun International co-founder Liang Xinjun, two members of a wealthy family from the United Arab Emirates, a senior executive at cryptocurrency miner Bitfury, and former US ambassador to China Max Baucus, who serves on Binance's advisory board. It is included. A number of current and former Binance executives also submitted letters, including all three external members of the exchange's new board of directors, who were appointed earlier this month.
Late last year, Binance pleaded guilty to violating U.S. anti-money laundering and sanctions, was fined $4.3 billion and had to agree to regulatory oversight. Mr. Zhao, known by his nickname “CZ,” also pleaded guilty and resigned as CEO.
Read more: US seeks 3-year prison sentence for former Binance CEO Chao
Mr. Chao, 47, is the 29th richest person in the world, with a fortune of about $43 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Binance remains the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange.
The letter describes a man who is indifferent to wealth, saying that Mr. Zhao prefers affordable clothing available on Amazon to luxury goods, that his aunt makes dinner for him, and that he prefers taxis to limousines. Mentioned multiple times. Mr. Zhao's current life partner and Binance co-founder Yi He said the former CEO received a lower salary than other company executives and has received no dividends or cash from the business since its inception. He added that he had not received any.
He is also a family man. His friends said Mr. Zhao's various homes were often covered with children's toys and praised his closeness with his youngest son and elderly mother. “They are very close to my dad and now they always ask, 'Why isn't my dad home?'” When can dad come back? ” Yi He said of the children. “Of course, I'm not saying CZ didn't make mistakes here, but his biggest mistake was ignorance.”
At a dinner last December, a letter was read in which Chao's teenage son Ryan questioned him about his crimes. Ronghui Gu, co-founder of blockchain security company CertiK and now an associate professor at Columbia University, said: “I consciously avoided mentioning the incident, hoping to take a break from his legal troubles.'' “It’s the body,” he says.
“The sudden silence that followed was palpable,” Gu said. [Zhao] He acknowledged his mistakes and guilt, emphasizing that while there is no shame in making mistakes, there is shame in not being able to face and correct those mistakes. ”
business troubles
Industry executives and investors who have known Mr. Zhao for years recalled his commitment to honesty and integrity in business transactions and offered several suggestions. In 2015, when Chao was chief technology officer of cryptocurrency exchange OKCoin, he protested the “management and financial failures” of Richmond Teo, co-founder of stablecoin issuer Paxos Trust. and resigned. time.
“He was someone who had received a lot of threats and was being openly attacked by large corporations with deep pockets. “I asked him to tone it down and he refused because it was the truth. ” wrote Teo, who previously partnered with Binance on the now-defunct stablecoin Binance USD. “He made powerful enemies in the industry while holding to ethical grounds.”
A few years later, Binance's application to register its services with the Monetary Authority of Singapore was blocked by Mr. Chao, CEO of Temasek-backed venture capital firm Vertex Venture Holdings. He was reportedly rejected because he controls a stake in the global Binance company.
“After much consideration, we have agreed to withdraw our application. Even though Binance Singapore has exhausted half of its invested capital, CZ has decided to fully refund the original investment cost. “This was an unexpected move by him and demonstrates his thoughtfulness and sense of fairness,'' Mr Chua said.
charity
Many of the letters in support of Mr. Zhao referenced Binance and Mr. Zhao's numerous charitable donations. More than 50 of Binance's Ukrainian employees have signed or written a letter explaining that the company helped them migrate from Ukraine during Russia's invasion of the territory in early 2022.
They also cite Mr. Chao's personal attributes as evidence of his down-to-earth personality, such as his preference for riding a scooter to meetings, his fondness for poker games, and the fact that he worked at McDonald's during high school. There were people too. Some of the letters describe his time recovering from two spinal surgeries he underwent in 2020, during which he continued to work at Binance even though he was bedridden.
“When I visited him in 2020, he was lying on his back in bed, wearing a device I had made to hold his laptop above his face so he could continue using it during his recovery. ” Mr Teo said.He joked that his laptop fell on this face [sic] It happened many times in previous iterations. ”
The three-year sentence is twice the length of time Zhao was expected to serve under federal guidelines. Submitting a letter of support citing Mr. Zhao's own apology and expertise from prison and security consultants as evidence, Mr. Zhao's lawyers argued that he should receive probation instead.
In his own letter to the court, Mr. Zhao apologized for his actions. He also lamented having to let go of his life's work by resigning from Binance, adding that he would like to focus on opportunities in education and biotech innovation in the future. “I thought I would live like that for the next few decades. That life no longer exists for me. It was difficult to accept that at first, but I accepted it.” ”
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