By bigbreakingwire The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is pursuing a three-year jail sentence for Changpeng Zhao, the former CEO of Binance, the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange.
Zhao admitted guilt to breaching the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), failing to register as a money transmitting business, and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
Binance, headquartered in the Cayman Islands, has agreed to settle with the DOJ for over $4 billion. This settlement is in response to charges related to BSA violations and transactions involving countries under U.S. sanctions, as outlined by the IEEPA.
The DOJ asserts that Binance and Zhao knowingly neglected their legal obligations in favor of financial gain, permitting illicit activities such as terrorism financing and money laundering on their platform.
Binance’s lack of a robust anti-money laundering (AML) program further exacerbated the violations.
These charges against Binance and Zhao signify a significant escalation in the U.S. government’s efforts to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges and the broader industry.
In recent times, the DOJ has successfully prosecuted the CEOs of two other prominent cryptocurrency exchanges.
The substantial penalties, including the monetary fine and the imposition of a monitorship to ensure adherence to U.S. laws and regulations, serve as a stern warning to the cryptocurrency sector regarding the consequences of non-compliance with U.S. laws.
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