Photo: ANP
American prosecutors are demanding a three-year prison sentence against founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao of crypto exchange Binance. This is evident from court documents. Zhao is on trial in the United States for allegedly violating anti-money laundering rules with Binance. He is expected to hear his sentence next week.
Zhao pleaded guilty in November, ending a lengthy investigation into Binance. This investigation revealed that the cryptocurrency exchange failed to report more than 100,000 suspicious transactions involving organizations such as Hamas, Al Qaeda and the Islamic State. Zhao has already agreed to pay a $50 million fine.
Binance must pay a fine of more than 4.3 billion dollars, equivalent to more than 4 billion euros. Federal prosecutors and the company previously reached an agreement on this. As part of that deal, Binance must also be audited for compliance with the rules by an independent office for five years.
