"At the White House last week, there was a telling exchange when CNN's Kaitlan Collins asked Donald Trump why he chose to pardon Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, and whether the decision had anything to do with Binance's involvement in his family businesses. Trump didn't seem to like the question. He said he pardons a lot of people, and he dismissed Collins as "fake news.""
"He also claimed that he didn't know Zhao, who served four months in prison last year after pleading guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering program at Binance. Trump went on to say that Zhao had "a lot of support" from people who felt what he did "wasn't a crime" and who believed that Zhao "was persecuted by the Biden Administration. And so I gave him a pardon at the request of a lot of very good people.""
"But, since returning to office as a crypto entrepreneur in his own right, he has done all that he can to promote the industry and rehabilitate some of its disgraced figures. On January 21st, he freed Ross Ulbricht, who was serving a life sentence in federal prison for his ownership and operation of the digital black market Silk Road until its closure, in 2013."
Donald Trump granted clemency to Binance founder Changpeng Zhao after Zhao pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering program and served four months in prison. Trump defended the pardon, saying Zhao had support and was persecuted, and dismissed questions about family business ties. The President previously criticized cryptocurrency but has since pardoned multiple crypto figures, including Ross Ulbricht and BitMEX executives. Some pardons raised questions about conflicts and accountability. Zhao's situation differs from prior recipients because of alleged business links to the Trump family, intensifying concerns about unchecked presidential clemency.
Read at The New Yorker
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