Former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has been sentenced to four months in prison by a United States judge for violating U.S. money laundering laws. Prosecutors had initially recommended a three-year sentence for Zhao’s failure to maintain an effective Anti-Money Laundering program at the crypto exchange, to which he pleaded guilty. However, Judge Richard Jones stated that there was no evidence that Zhao was aware of any specific illegal activities at Binance, rejecting the request to increase the sentence. While U.S. authorities have been investigating Zhao and his crypto empire for the past six years, some have questioned the disparity in treatment between him and FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who received a 25-year prison sentence for fraud. Additionally, Oregon has become the sixth state to take action against Binance.US, revoking, suspending, or declining to renew its operating license.
In a separate case, a Nigerian court has postponed the trial of Binance executives Tigran Gambaryan and Nadeem Anjarwalla, as the legal team has not yet received the necessary documents for the money laundering case. The trial, which is unrelated to the tax evasion charges brought against Binance and its executives, has been adjourned until May 17. Meanwhile, Alexander Vinnik, the co-founder of BTC-e, has pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy. The United States Department of Justice revealed that BTC-e processed over $9 billion in transactions and had more than one million users worldwide, with a significant number of users in the United States. The platform was reportedly used to launder funds acquired from various criminal activities, including hacking and drug trafficking. Finally, early Bitcoin investor Roger Ver, also known as “Bitcoin Jesus,” has been charged with mail fraud, tax evasion, and filing false tax returns. Ver is accused of defrauding the Internal Revenue Service out of approximately $48 million by failing to report capital gains on his Bitcoin and asset sales. The U.S. government intends to extradite Ver from Spain to stand trial in the United States.