The former head of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange has been sentenced to four months in prison for allowing money laundering.
The sentence was imposed on Binance’s billionaire founder Changpeng Zhao, nicknamed CZ, after he pleaded guilty to violating US anti-money laundering laws designed to prevent the financing of terrorism.
The prison sentence was much less than that requested by U.S. prosecutors who wanted a three-year sentence (double the maximum 18 months recommended under federal sentencing guidelines) to come down hard on the man he was once thought to be. the most powerful person in the world of cryptocurrencies.
Zhao has already paid a $50m (£40m) fine.
He is the second major crypto boss to go to prison. Last month, the founder of FTX Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years for stealing billions of dollars from the now-bankrupt crypto exchange.
Bankman-Fried has appealed her conviction and sentence.
Mr. Zhao Low from his position at Binance in November after he and the company admitted to evading the requirements of the US Bank Secrecy Act.
The company agreed to a $4.3bn (£3.4bn) fine because prosecutors said it used a “wild west” model that failed to report 100,000 suspicious transactions involving terrorist groups.
Prosecutors also said Binance supported the sale of child sexual abuse materials and received the proceeds from ransomware cyber attacks.
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