The founder of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange, Changpeng Zhao, was recently released from custody in the United States, where he was serving a four-month sentence in a light security correctional facility.
Image source: x.com/cz_binance
Zhao was sentenced to prison following a federal investigation that found that the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, failed to curb large-scale criminal activity on the platform. The head of Binance pleaded guilty to charges brought by the Department of Justice, paid a fine of $50 million and pledged never to hold a leadership position at Binance again.
The crypto exchange itself was forced to pay compensation to the US government in the amount of $4.3 billion – one of the largest corporate fines in the history of the country. At the same time, Changpeng Zhao still owns 90% of the shares of Binance and ranks 25th in the ranking of the richest people in the world, owning a fortune of $61 billion. Shortly before the verdict, the businessman spoke about his new project – this is the educational platform Giggle Academy, which is not intended to generate income . Now he will be able to work in a new company that is actively recruiting employees.