CZ’s Lawyer Responds to Claims Behind Binance Founder CZ’s Pardon by Donald Trump

Allegations that Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) paid for the presidential pardon he obtained from US President Donald Trump have been categorically denied by Zhao’s lawyer, Teresa Goody Guillen.

Talking on the Pomp Podcast, hosted by crypto investor Anthony Pompliano, Goody Guillen mentioned such a deal will “by no means occur.”

Pompliano requested throughout this system whether or not Trump operated a secret Bitcoin pockets and whether or not CZ or Binance had paid into it in trade for the pardon. Goody Guillen referred to as this declare baseless and pointed to the transparency of blockchain transactions.

“If one thing like this occurred, it might have been seen on the blockchain. CZ is just not like that,” he mentioned.

Following Trump’s re-election final yr, Binance’s relationship with the Trump household has reportedly strengthened. Across the similar time, CZ, who was serving a four-month jail sentence, utilized for and obtained a presidential pardon. These developments fueled suspicions of a ‘battle of curiosity’ in some political circles.

Amongst those that made these allegations was Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren. In October, Warren mentioned, “If Congress would not cease this sort of corruption, it can develop into complicit in it.”

CZ admitted violating the Financial institution Secrecy Act of 2023. In his plea, he mentioned Binance failed to forestall criminals, sanctioned entities and different unlawful actors from laundering billions of {dollars} in cash.

After the election, Binance turned affiliated with World Liberty Monetary, an organization owned by Trump and his household. The Trump household’s DT Marks DEFI LLC initially owned 75% of the corporate; as we speak that share is 38%. The household additionally owns 22.5 billion World Liberty tokens, with 75% of gross sales going to DT Marks.

Goody Guillen described the information about World Liberty and Binance as “a mix of false statements.”

“There are plenty of claims that aren’t based mostly on a supply. ‘A supply near somebody’ is normally not a powerful supply,” he mentioned.

Goody Guillen argued that CZ’s pardon was purely a matter of “justice.” He identified that CZ’s crime was a “breach of rules” that main monetary establishments routinely encounter.

“Lots of the main monetary establishments have been accused of comparable violations, however their executives should not going to jail,” he mentioned.

*This isn’t funding recommendation.