‘There were no money-laundering charges’: CZ claps back at Senator Warren
Binance founder CZ refuted Senator Warren's claim that he pleaded guilty to a money laundering charge, clarifying it was for AML compliance failures.Summary
Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao publicly countered US Senator Elizabeth Warren after she stated he "pleaded guilty to a criminal money laundering charge." Zhao clarified on X that there were "NO money laundering [charges]" involved; instead, he pleaded guilty to a single felony count of violating the US Bank Secrecy Act by failing to maintain an effective Anti-Money Laundering (AML) program, which resulted in a four-month sentence. Zhao accepted responsibility for compliance failures but denied personal money laundering. Warren also accused Zhao of financing President Donald Trump’s stablecoin and lobbying for a pardon, suggesting corruption if Congress doesn't intervene. Separately, Representative Maxine Waters criticized Trump for pardoning Zhao, alleging he is doing favors for "crypto criminals." Zhao had previously threatened to sue Bloomberg over a report linking Binance to Trump-backed USD1 stablecoin.
(Source：Cointelegraph)