{"id":1056668,"date":"2025-10-23T16:01:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T20:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1056668"},"modified":"2025-10-23T16:01:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T20:01:15","slug":"breaking-corruption-watch-trump-pardons-convicted-founder-of-crypto-company-binance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/breaking-corruption-watch-trump-pardons-convicted-founder-of-crypto-company-binance\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Corruption Watch: Trump Pardons Convicted Founder of Crypto Company Binance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"449\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?w=1024\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1050776\" srcset=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png 1101w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=300,132 300w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=768,337 768w, https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?resize=1024,449 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, Donald Trump pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the convicted founder of the crypto exchange Binance, who pleaded guilty to money-laundering violations in 2023. Binance built ties with World Liberty Financial, the Trump family\u2019s crypto start-up, which is expected to bring the Trumps tens of millions of dollars a year. To secure a pardon, Mr. Zhao hired Ches McDowell, a lawyer, lobbyist and longtime hunting companion of Donald Trump Jr. Just last week, McDowell and Don Jr. were spotted together at the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>In response, DNC Rapid Response Director Kendall Witmer released the following statement:&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDonald Trump\u2019s corruption is outrageously brazen. Let\u2019s get this straight: Zhao was convicted for money laundering after he admitted that he failed to uphold compliance laws, which resulted in sanctioned countries and terrorist groups moving money through his crypto platform, Binance. Then, Binance partnered with the Trump family\u2019s crypto start-up, and Zhao hired Don Jr.\u2019s buddy \u2014 and now, Zhao gets a sudden pardon from Trump. Trump only cares about enriching himself and rewarding his loyalists \u2014 even if that means pardoning criminals \u2014 while everyday Americans get left in the dust. Trump and his family have already made over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2025\/08\/18\/the-number\">$3.4 billion<\/a> off the presidency \u2014 but he\u2019ll continue to sell out the American people if it means making an extra buck.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/finance\/currencies\/trump-binance-changpeng-zhao-pardon-7509bd63?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=AWEtsqdEoWLwADjs_wTvB_8kzTlKQUQI76luafhIasooIJ9Wz7slwW8TYyDZoDSTz1U%3D&amp;gaa_ts=68fa6b32&amp;gaa_sig=M1Ub6eOskGi-23L7oB83tJvXPSt7C53xnBRBO9UaUsgJ1ynpRCIjAaP2gjpMLN273JwEmC2671Y4nuaIGvMMQw%3D%3D\"><strong>Trump Pardons Convicted Binance Founder<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>By <\/em><em>Rebecca Ballhaus<\/em>, <em>Josh Dawsey<\/em>, <em>Patricia Kowsmann<\/em>, and <em>Angus Berwick.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>President Trump has pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the convicted founder of the crypto exchange Binance, according to people familiar with the matter, following months of efforts by Zhao to boost the Trump family\u2019s own crypto company.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A pardon will likely pave the way for Binance, the world\u2019s largest crypto exchange, to return to the U.S. after the company <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/finance\/inside-binances-guilty-plea-and-the-biggest-fine-in-crypto-history-e959fca0?mod=article_inline\">pleaded guilty<\/a> in 2023 to violating U.S. anti-money-laundering requirements and was barred from operating in the country.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Since Trump\u2019s election, Binance has also been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/finance\/currencies\/trump-family-crypto-1e7ab14a?mod=article_inline\">a key supporter<\/a> of his family\u2019s World Liberty Financial crypto venture, a business that has driven <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/finance\/currencies\/trump-family-amasses-6-billion-fortune-after-crypto-launch-567faec5?mod=article_inline\">a huge leap in the president\u2019s personal wealth<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Justice Department imposed a record $4.3 billion fine and burdensome oversight on Binance, which the department said had become a colossal money-laundering hub through which sanctioned groups and criminal organizations laundered billions of dollars in illicit funds.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The pardon may also prematurely end the Justice Department\u2019s three-year Binance monitorship, set up to ensure the company complies with U.S. financial crime laws.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Binance executives <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/finance\/regulation\/binance-world-liberty-financial-crypto-deals-70c817c3?mod=article_inline\">met with Treasury officials<\/a> this spring to discuss loosening U.S. oversight on the company, which has lost ground over its rivals due to its legal troubles, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Binance first reached out to allies of Trump last year, offering to strike a business deal with the family as part of a plan to return the company to the U.S., the Journal reported earlier this year. Representatives of the Trump family have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/finance\/currencies\/trump-family-has-held-deal-talks-with-binance-following-crypto-exchanges-guilty-plea-05b029fa?mod=article_inline\">held talks to take a financial stake<\/a> in the U.S. arm of Binance.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Binance has been one of the main drivers of the growth of World Liberty\u2019s dollar-pegged cryptocurrency, called USD1. It delivered World Liberty\u2019s first big break this spring when it accepted a $2 billion investment from an outside investor paid in USD1. Binance has also incentivized trading in USD1 across platforms it controls.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Zhao is the latest crypto executive to receive a pardon from Trump. In March, the president pardoned Arthur Hayes, a co-founder of the crypto exchange BitMEX who had pleaded guilty to violating anti-money-laundering laws.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/10\/23\/technology\/trump-pardons-cz-binance.html\"><strong>Trump Pardons Founder of the Crypto Exchange Binance<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>By David Yaffe-Bellany and Kenneth P. Vogel.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The pardon was the latest example of how high-profile business partners of Mr. Trump and his family have benefited from his rollback of the wide-ranging crypto crackdown orchestrated by President Joseph R. Biden Jr. To seek the pardon, Mr. Zhao hired lawyers and lobbyists with ties to the Trump administration, while Binance struck a business deal with World Liberty Financial, the Trump family\u2019s crypto start-up.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>That deal alone is poised to generate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/01\/us\/politics\/trump-cryptocurrency-usd1-dubai-conference-announcement.html\">tens of millions of dollars<\/a> a year for the Trumps and the family of Steve Witkoff, the president\u2019s top Middle East adviser.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mr. Trump has granted clemency to several other prominent crypto executives, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/09\/07\/technology\/ross-ulbricht-silk-road-comeback.html\">Ross Ulbricht<\/a>, who ran the Bitcoin-fueled drug marketplace Silk Road. And since Mr. Trump took office, regulators have dropped lawsuits against Coinbase and other large crypto firms.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Long considered the crypto industry\u2019s richest man, Mr. Zhao \u2014 a Chinese-born executive who now lives in the United Arab Emirates \u2014 admitted that he had violated the law by failing to install rigorous compliance systems at Binance. That allowed people in sanctioned countries and terrorist groups like Hamas, Al Qaeda and the Islamic State to move money on his platform.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Now he could have an opportunity to retake direct control of the exchange. The pardon could also make it easier for Binance to establish a presence in the U.S. market and challenge domestic exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cThis is yet another example of the administration\u2019s brazen flouting of the rule of law,\u201d said Eswar Prasad, an economics professor at Cornell University who has been critical of the crypto industry. \u201cThere is little justification for this pardon and highlights how far this administration will go to promote the cryptocurrency industry.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>To spearhead his clemency push, Mr. Zhao hired Teresa Goody Guill\u00e9n, a former Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer who also represents Zach Witkoff, the son of Mr. Trump\u2019s Middle East adviser. Working alongside Ms. Goody Guill\u00e9n was Ches McDowell, a lawyer and lobbyist who is a longtime hunting companion of Donald Trump Jr. Mr. McDowell was spotted with the president\u2019s son at the White House last week.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>At the same time, Binance forged a partnership with World Liberty Financial, the crypto company founded by the Trump and Witkoff families. In May, Zach Witkoff announced that Binance would receive a $2 billion investment in the form of a cryptocurrency called USD1 that World Liberty had developed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today, Donald Trump pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the convicted founder of the crypto exchange Binance, who pleaded guilty to money-laundering violations in 2023. Binance built ties with World Liberty Financial, the Trump family\u2019s crypto start-up, which is expected to bring the Trumps tens of millions of dollars a year. To secure a pardon, Mr. Zhao hired [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":302,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1056668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Corruption Watch: Trump Pardons Convicted Founder of Crypto Company Binance - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/breaking-corruption-watch-trump-pardons-convicted-founder-of-crypto-company-binance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-23T20:01:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-23T20:01:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1101\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tristin Byrd\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tristin Byrd\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/breaking-corruption-watch-trump-pardons-convicted-founder-of-crypto-company-binance\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/breaking-corruption-watch-trump-pardons-convicted-founder-of-crypto-company-binance\/\",\"name\":\"BREAKING: Corruption Watch: Trump Pardons Convicted Founder of Crypto Company Binance - 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