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External ties & falloutRead selected file

Changpeng Zhao

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Binance founder who pleaded guilty to a Bank Secrecy Act offense and received a full Trump pardon in 2025.

Relationship to Trumprecipient of Trump presidential clemency

Timeline

  1. Zhao pleads guilty and receives a four-month sentence before the Trump pardonHistorical conviction; later pardoned by Trumplater Trump pardon recipient · convicted · 2 sources
    1. penaltyBinance corporate resolution$4.3 billion
      Committed by / source
      Binance Holdings Limited
      Committed to
      United States agencies
      committed · 2023-11-21 · observedRead source record
      Calculation detailsPopulation Separate Binance corporate resolution identified in DOJ's case recordPeriod 2023-11-21 to 2023-11-21Basis Corporate resolution amount in DOJ's November 21, 2023 Binance case record, separate from Zhao's personal fine.Limits The aggregate covers Binance's corporate resolution; agency-level allocations and payment timing are not encoded here.
    2. penaltyChangpeng Zhao personal criminal fine$50 million
      Ordered from
      Changpeng Zhao
      Ordered to
      United States
      ordered · 2024-04-30 · observedRead source record
      Calculation detailsPopulation Personal fine imposed with Zhao's federal Bank Secrecy Act sentencePeriod 2024-04-30 to 2024-04-30Basis Personal fine in Zhao's April 30, 2024 federal sentence, separate from the Binance corporate resolution.Limits The sentence establishes Zhao's personal obligation; payment timing is not identified.
  2. Trump grants Changpeng Zhao a full pardonFull and unconditional presidential pardon grantedrecipient of Trump presidential clemency · documented · 1 source
  3. Reporting examines Binance-WLF support and USD1 links before Zhao's pardonPardoned October 21, 2025; Binance-WLF technical-support accounts remain disputedTrump pardon recipient amid disputed Binance-WLF links · reported · 4 sources
    1. investmentMGX investment settled through USD1$2 billion
      Reported investor / source
      MGX
      Reported investment recipient
      Binance
      reported · 2025-05-01 · observedRead source record
      Calculation detailsPopulation The MGX investment in Binance described in reporting about Binance and World Liberty Financial linksPeriod 2025-05-01 to 2025-05-01Basis Use the investment face value reported for the MGX-Binance transaction settled with USD1.Limits The record does not allocate any of the investment to Changpeng Zhao personally. This duplicates the same MGX-Binance transaction on other records and must not be added to them.
Roles and relationships
Full and unconditional Trump pardonlegal / 2025-10-21Federal Bank Secrecy Act convictionlegal / 2024-04-30

Relationships

  1. Trump pardon recipient amid disputed Binance-WLF linksbusinesslegalpoliticalreported · 1 file · 4 source referencesOpen cited record
  2. later Trump pardon recipientbusinesslegalpoliticalconvicted · 1 file · 2 source referencesOpen cited record
Source: Aevozer · Rights/use: CC BY-SA 4.0 · https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/; derivative remains CC BY-SA 4.0 · Modified: cropped and resized