The sentence was far below the three years requested by prosecutors, who had sought to make an example out of Zhao to a heavily scrutinised industry rebounding from a slew of high-profile scandals. It is the first time a chief executive officer has ever gone to jail for a bank secrecy act violation, a charge that has been used repeatedly in crypto prosecutions in recent years.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was ordered to spend four months in prison for failures that allowed cybercriminals and terrorist groups to freely trade on the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Zhao, 47, was sentenced Tuesday by US District Judge Richard Jones in Seattle. Dressed in a dark suit with a light blue tie, the billionaire arrived in court flanked by half a dozen lawyers. His mother and sister watched his sentencing from the front row of the courtroom.
