Former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao is scheduled to appear before a federal judge more than 160 days after pleading guilty to one felony count as part of a settlement agreement with United States authorities.
On April 30, Judge Richard Jones will hear from prosecutors and CZ’s attorneys in United States District Court for the Western District of Washington for one of the most anticipated legal proceedings in the crypto space since the conviction and sentencing of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. Zhao’s sentencing hearing has already been pushed back once, but at the time of publication, it was expected to be held by the end of the month.
In November 2023, Zhao pleaded guilty to one count for failure to maintain an effective Anti-Money Laundering (AML) program while at Binance, violating the Bank Secrecy Act. He resigned as CEO as part of the plea deal, in which the crypto exchange and Zhao agreed to pay $4.3 billion to settle “civil regulatory enforcement actions” in the United States — which did not include a lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Under U.S. sentencing guidelines, Judge Jones could put CZ in federal prison for up to 10 years, but there is a recommended sentence of 12 to 18 months for the charge he's facing. Bankman-Fried received a 25-year sentence on March 28, but other than the fact both cases involve high-profile members of the crypto space, there are few similarities. Some have suggested that given his guilty plea and cooperation with authorities, Zhao could face no prison time.
“I would say [these cases] are not comparable from a charges perspective, but they are extremely comparable from the perspective that the [Justice Department], the SEC and the federal government are making it very clear that they are not going to tolerate nefarious behavior,” Moe Vela, a former Director of Administration for then-Vice President Joe Biden, told Cointelegraph.
Vela added that U.S. authorities may be trying to “send a message” to illicit players in the crypto space, regardless of whether the judge imposes a harsh sentence on CZ. However, he speculated that the former Binance CEO could “see some leniency” from the judge due to Zhao's cooperation and guilty plea.
Related: What to expect at Sam Bankman-Fried’s sentencing hearing
Mark Bini, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, told Cointelegraph that, unlike Bankman-Fried’s criminal case, CZ’s felt more “like a regulatory offense.” However, he said there was a risk that events around Hamas’ attack on Israel could potentially influence the judge overseeing CZ’s sentencing.
In the wake of the Hamas attack, many reports have surfaced alleging connections to crypto being used to fund terrorist organizations. The allegations may not be entirely unrelated to the former Binance CEO’s charge for failure to maintain an AML program and the exchange’s civil case.
“The wild card and where public sentiment might line up with what the government feels about the case is that there is that case out there against Binance [...] accusing them of having laundered funds related to Hamas,” said Bini. “Something like that [...] might be framed in some way as showing how serious that what looks like a regulatory offense has real-world consequences that prosecutors might argue should be taken into account.”
Bini added:
“The facts of the case may be so compelling to the judge in some bad way for CZ that the judge feels that a more significant sentence is called for.”
Since his guilty plea, Zhao has remained mainly free to travel within certain areas of the United States on a $175 million bond. His legal team has made several requests for the former Binance CEO to travel to the United Arab Emirates to visit family before his hearing, all of which the judge has denied.
Magazine: US enforcement agencies are turning up the heat on crypto-related crime
