Key Points
- BitGo CEO, Mike Belshe, defends Binance founder, Changpeng Zhao, against money laundering claims.
- Changpeng Zhao received a pardon from President Trump after a prison sentence for AML failures.
Mike Belshe, BitGo’s CEO, came to the defense of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao in the early morning of October 24.
Zhao had recently been pardoned by President Donald Trump, which Belshe clarified was not for money laundering as claimed by Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Clarification of Binance Founder’s Charges
Belshe used his platform to clarify why Zhao had been imprisoned, particularly after Senator Warren made a post about it.
The conversation began after a Wall Street Journal report noted Zhao’s recent pardon by President Trump.
Senator Warren highlighted the report, suggesting that Zhao had lobbied for the pardon by financing Trump’s stablecoin.
She claimed that Zhao pleaded guilty to a criminal money laundering charge, which resulted in a four-month prison sentence. In her view, this pardon represents a form of corruption that Congress needs to address.
Belshe refuted her claim, stating that Zhao only pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering (AML) program.
Unjust Prosecution of Binance Founder
According to Belshe, Zhao was unjustly prosecuted and was the only individual to ever receive jail time solely for this violation.
On October 23, the WSJ reported that President Trump pardoned Zhao, who was convicted in 2023 for AML failures.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that Zhao’s case was part of the Biden administration’s “war on cryptocurrency” which cost Zhao four months in prison.
The pardon was Trump’s way of using his constitutional powers to “end politically motivated prosecution against innovators in digital assets.”
As a result, Zhao is now free of legal restrictions that previously limited his ability to operate in the US and other jurisdictions.
However, it remains uncertain if Zhao will resume any executive role within the Binance exchange.
