Binance’s Changpeng Zhao Will Be Going to Jail, Says CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam

The Chair of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) says that former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao will face prison in relation to recent charges.

Speaking in a new CNBC interview, CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam says that he expects Zhao to spend time in prison after pleading guilty to failing to keep adequate anti-money laundering protocols for Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange.

Says Behnam,

“We have over $4 billion in fines on the criminal and civil side. The CFTC, Justice [Department] and The Treasury. Obviously, there’s the criminal side so he will be going to jail.

The sentencing will be taking a bit of time. So I think law enforcement, both criminal and civil, we work together [and] we feel like we got a bad actor here and it’s sending a clear message.”

In a recent court filing, the government argued that Zhao, a citizen of two other nations, posed a “serious risk of flight” after his guilty pleas.

“As a non-U.S. but UAE (United Arab Emirates) citizen with substantial wealth outside the United States, minimal ties to the United States, and a residence in a country without an extradition treaty with the United States, Zhao poses a serious risk of flight and [it is] requested that he be required to remain in the continental United States pending sentencing.”

Ultimately, Judge Richard A. Jones ruled that Zhao must stay in the US until his sentencing scheduled for February 24th of next year.

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Featured Image: Shutterstock/Tithi Luadthong