© Reuters United States – In a recent development, a federal judge in Seattle has forced Changpeng Zhao, former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, to remain in the United States. This decision comes after Zhao pleaded guilty in a money laundering case. The ruling is expected at the end of February.
Zhao’s guilty plea was part of a plea agreement reached with US authorities, which was announced late Tuesday. He admitted to violating anti-money laundering laws in a post on a social media platform. After his resignation, Richard Teng took over the leadership of Binance.
The plea agreement stipulates heavy fines for Binance, amounting to more than $4 billion, which will be paid to various US Treasury agencies. In addition to the criminal charges, Binance is also facing civil lawsuits from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). According to these lawsuits, the company did not have adequate anti-money laundering protocols and customer identification processes, which would have allowed transactions to terrorist organizations, including Al-Qaeda and the military wing of Hamas.
The fallout from these legal cases represents an important turning point for Binance, which has been a major player in the cryptocurrency market. The effects of these events will likely have a lasting impact on the company’s operations and the broader cryptocurrency industry as regulatory scrutiny intensifies.
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