- liv mcmahon
- technology reporter
The founder of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange has been sentenced to four months in prison in the United States for allowing criminals to launder money on his platform.
Changpeng Zhao resigned from Binance in November and pleaded guilty to violating US money laundering laws.
Binance was ordered to pay $4.3bn (£3.4bn) after a US investigation found it helped users evade sanctions.
Prosecutors had asked for a three-year prison sentence for the former president of Binance.
At a sentencing hearing in Seattle on Tuesday, Judge Richard Jones said Zhao had prioritized “Binance's growth and profits over compliance with U.S. laws and regulations,” according to The Verge.
U.S. officials said in November that Binance and Chao's “willful violations” of the law threaten the U.S. financial system and national security.
“Binance ignored its legal obligations in pursuit of profit,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement.
“Detentional failures enabled funds to flow through that platform to terrorists, cybercriminals, and child abusers.”
According to Forbes magazine, Mr. Zhao, commonly known as “CZ,” is worth $33 billion.
Nigerian authorities are currently investigating the company, which is also registered in the Cayman Islands.
Chao's sentence comes shortly after Sam Bankman Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud committed on rival cryptocurrency platform FTX.
The Justice Department said its investigation into Binance also found that the exchange facilitated the movement of funds by criminals.
