US President Donald Trump has pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao. Zhao had previously pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering while heading the cryptocurrency exchange, the White House said Thursday.
“President Trump exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao. Zhao was prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
Zhao, in November 2023, pleaded guilty in the case and agreed to step down as Binance CEO. This was part of a $4.3 billion settlement by the company with the Department of Justice. He was sentenced in April 2024 to just four months in jail.
Trump’s pardon of Zhao came nearly a week after he commuted the 87-month prison sentence of former New York Rep. George Santos. Santos had pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Changpeng Zhao Money laundering case
In late 2023, Zhao and Binance faced major U.S. regulatory scrutiny for systemic failures in anti-money laundering (AML) compliance. This led to one of the largest corporate settlements in crypto history. The case centered on Zhao’s alleged prioritization of rapid growth over legal safeguards, allowing illicit activities on the platform.
On March 27, 2023, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a lawsuit against Binance and Zhao. They accused them of evading U.S. financial laws, breaching derivatives regulations, and facilitating money laundering for criminal networks and groups such as Hamas.
The case escalated when, on November 21, 2023, Zhao pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). He did this by failing to establish an effective anti-money laundering (AML) program. Zhao also resigned as Binance’s CEO. The company agreed to a $4.3 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for offenses including unlicensed money transmission and sanctions violations. Zhao personally paid a $50 million fine as part of the agreement.
On April 30, 2024, U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones sentenced Zhao to four months in prison. He recognized Zhao’s cooperation and acceptance of responsibility. However, he emphasized the “unprecedented scale” of Binance’s regulatory breaches. Prosecutors had sought a three-year term, but Zhao served his sentence in a low-security facility near Seattle-Tacoma Airport, completing it by September 2024.
In May 2025, reports surfaced that Zhao had petitioned for a presidential pardon, backed by lobbying from the cryptocurrency sector.
