Approval of Binance’s $4.3 billion deal: CZ’s hearing is next

U.S. District Judge Richard Jones approved Binance’s settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Accordingly, Binance’s payment of a penalty of $ 4.3 billion has been finalized.

“This is truly a case of corporate ethics being violated for the sake of greed,” Judge Jones said at the sentencing hearing in Seattle today. he said.

Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao were accused of money laundering and aiding sanctions evasion last year, and these accusations were accepted by both the company and Zhao. An agreement was also reached to pay a penalty of $4.3 billion to close the investigations.

Urging the judge to approve the agreement, prosecutors said, “Binance has left the financial system vulnerable to those who want to exploit our system for their own interests. The nature and seriousness of Binance’s misconduct is clear. “There was deliberate misconduct orchestrated by senior executives and had collateral consequences in the hundreds of millions of dollars.” they said.

On the other hand, Josh Eaton, deputy general counsel of Binance, said at the hearing that the company accepted full responsibility.

As part of the agreement, Binance will be audited by an independent company for the next five years.

All eyes are now on Changpeng Zhao’s trial

Now, all eyes will be on the hearing of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, which has been postponed to April 30. Zhao faces charges that could carry a prison sentence of up to 10 years, but is expected to receive no more than 18 months in prison.