Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, became the world’s richest prisoner after being sentenced to four months in prison in the US. He has a personal fortune of about $43 billion.
Changpeng Zhao, also known as “CZ,” was sentenced by the Seattle court on Tuesday, April 29th, after he pleaded guilty to violating the United States anti-money laundering and sanction laws late last year.
Despite the prosecutors’ claims for a three-year term, a US judge handed down to a “CZ” a four-month sentence after the court considered the positive nature of Mr Zhao’s past behaviour.
The former boss of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange platform came crumbling down because of his prison sentence which makes a remarkable downfall.
During the trial, the prosecutors claimed that Mr Zhao allowed fraudulent activities to occur on his platform 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 this, Mr.”CZ’s lawyers apologised on his behalf, stressing that he was sorry for the harm caused by Binance. They argued that he shouldn’t be sent to prison.
Investigations proved that he had helped users bypass sanctions, and the company was ordered earlier this year to pay $4.3 billion.
At the trial with the court, Mr. Zhao apologised earnestly for his mistake and affirmed that the company has been cooperating with the government’s investigations lately. He said that he planned to develop education technology once freed for underprivileged children.
The judgement comes weeks after Sam Bankman-Fried, Mr Zhao’s rival and former chief executive who owns a collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for a multibillion-dollar fraud.
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