A Seattle court in US on Tuesday sentenced the founder of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, to four months in prison after pleading guilty to violations of United States anti-money laundering and sanctions laws last year.
The judge imposed a four-month sentence, although prosecutors sought a three-year term, citing Zhao’s past positive conduct as a factor.
His prison sentence marked a stunning downfall for the former boss of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Facing his trial, the Prosecutors said Mr Zhao allowed fraudulent activities to happen because it was the “best way to attract users, build his company, and line his pockets”.
The US Government said, “Zhao bet that he would not get caught and that if he did, the consequences would not be as serious as the crime.”
Reacting to the development, Zhao’s lawyers pleaded that he should not be sent to prison and stressed he was sorry for the harm caused by Binance.
The company was earlier this year ordered to pay $4.3 billion after an investigation found it had helped users bypass sanctions.
During his defence, Zhao apologised for his “mistakes” and said the company had been cooperating with the government’s investigations.
According to Zhao, once he regains his freedom, he plans to develop education technology for underprivileged children.
This is coming weeks after Sam Bankman-Fried, Zhao’s rival and former chief executive of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was sentenced to 25 years for a multibillion-dollar fraud.
