Decision time for former Binance CEO CZ, who is asked for 3 years in prison

Tomorrow will be a decision day for Changpeng Zhao, the founder and former CEO of the Binance exchange, by far the largest player in the $2.5 trillion cryptocurrency market. US prosecutors are seeking 3 years in prison for the 47-year-old executive, also known as CZ. CZ’s lawyers, on the other hand, state that he should not be given a prison sentence because he pleaded guilty, paid a large fine, and committed the crimes he admitted to for the first time.

He acknowledged the allegations and apologized

As you may remember, CZ officially admitted the accusations against him in November. Zhao, who was banned from leaving the United States in addition to paying a $50 million personal penalty, also resigned as CEO on the same day.

While an 18-month prison sentence was requested for CZ after the fines paid, prosecutors claimed last week that this period should be 36 months. Prosecutors said, “The message to be given here will not only be to CZ, but to the whole world. Zhao made huge profits by breaking US laws. “The response for this should be a heavy penalty,” they said.

CZ, on the other hand, wrote a letter to the court judge in February regarding the issue and said, “The responsibility is entirely mine… I made bad decisions. There is no excuse for this. “I regret making the decisions that brought me to this court,” he said.

Yellen also spoke harshly

As a result of the lawsuit filed against Binance and CZ, the exchange was also fined $ 4.3 billion. While the stock market penalty was making headlines in the USA, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also spoke on the subject and said:

“Binance has regularly violated US laws. Financial prosecutors had been following them for 3 years. They allowed illegal transactions to occur freely on the platform. Binance posed a major threat to the US financial system.”

The SEC also filed a lawsuit against the Binance exchange in June 2023 for unregistered securities sales.

SBF had taken 25 years

As you may remember, in recent weeks, Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of FTX, the major stock exchange of the period, was found guilty of all allegations against him and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The 30-year-old manager also admitted to making mistakes but said he did not steal customer funds. SBF stated that FTX’s US branch had the power to refund all customer money.