{"id":54783,"date":"2023-11-21T17:57:13","date_gmt":"2023-11-22T01:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=54783"},"modified":"2023-11-21T17:57:13","modified_gmt":"2023-11-22T01:57:13","slug":"founder-of-binance-worlds-largest-crypto-exchange-admits-to-anti-money-laundering-charge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=54783","title":{"rendered":"Founder Of Binance, World\u2019s Largest Crypto Exchange, Admits To Anti-Money Laundering Charge"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Binance’s founder and CEO, Changpeng Zhao, a Canadian national, has pleaded guilty to violating anti-money laundering (AML) rules and has resigned as CEO of Binance, officials announced Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This guilty plea is part of coordinated resolutions with the Department of the Treasury\u2019s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As part of the settlement, Binance will pay fines totaling $4.3 billion, and Zhao will pay a $50 million fine. The company will continue to operate in the U.S. under tighter supervision. Richard Teng, currently head of regional markets at Binance, is likely to take over as the new CEO.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cBinance became the world\u2019s largest cryptocurrency exchange in part because of the crimes it committed \u2013 now it is paying one of the largest corporate penalties in U.S. history,\u201d said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. \u201cIn just the past month, the Justice Department has successfully prosecuted the CEOs of two of the world\u2019s largest cryptocurrency exchanges in two separate criminal cases.\u00a0 The message here should be clear: using new technology to break the law does not make you a disruptor; it makes you a criminal.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Changpeng Zhao<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to court documents, Binance admitted to prioritizing growth and profits over compliance with U.S. law. Binance launched in 2017 and focused on attracting high-volume customers, including U.S.-based customers. <\/span><\/div>\n

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Binance quickly became the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, with the greatest share of its customers coming from the United States. <\/span><\/div>\n
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As a result of serving U.S. customers, Binance was required to register with FinCEN as a money services business and to implement an effective AML program that was reasonably designed to prevent Binance from being used to facilitate money laundering. <\/span><\/div>\n
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Binance did not comply with U.S. law and failed to implement controls and procedures to prevent money laundering. <\/span><\/div>\n
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Binance also did not implement controls that would have prevented U.S. customers from conducting transactions with customers in sanctioned jurisdictions, despite knowing that the system it used to match customers for transactions would necessarily cause transactions in violation of IEEPA.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Instead of complying with U.S. law, in 2019, Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, announced that it would block U.S. customers and launch a separate U.S. exchange.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Despite this announcement, Binance took steps to maintain a substantial number of U.S. customers, particularly valuable “VIP” customers who were responsible for a large portion of Binance’s trading volume and revenue.<\/span><\/p>\n