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Under federal guidelines, that crime carries a sentence of 12 to 18 months, prosecutors wrote in their memo. They noted that the U.S. probation department had recommended five months behind bars for Mr. Zhao. But the government is seeking a three-year sentence, the memo said, because of the “the scope and ramifications” of Mr. Zhao’s behavior.
As Binance’s founder, Mr. Zhao was once arguably the most powerful executive in the cryptocurrency industry. At times, Binance processed as much as two-thirds of all crypto transactions. Mr. Zhao has a fortune worth $33 billion, according to Forbes.
But for years, he was dogged by accusations that Binance had broken the law to grow its business worldwide. In November, the company agreed to pay $4.3 billion in fines and restitution to the U.S. government, settling charges that it had violated economic sanctions against Syria, Cuba and Iran while allowing criminal activity to flourish on its platform.
Separately, Mr. Zhao pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an adequate anti-money laundering program at Binance. As part of the deal, he agreed to pay a $50 million fine and step down as Binance’s chief executive. He was replaced by Richard Teng, a former regulator in Singapore who had been groomed to succeed him.
In court papers, Mr. Zhao admitted to prioritizing Binance’s growth over its compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act, which requires companies to avoid doing business with criminals or people facing economic sanctions. He told Binance’s employees that it was “better to ask for forgiveness than permission,” court papers said, and allowed Binance customers to create accounts without sharing the sort of detailed personal information that financial services firms usually require.
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Kaynak: briturkish.com
