- Changpeng “CZ” Zhao’s lawyer denies claims that he paid for a pardon from Donald Trump.
- CZ was pardoned in October 2024 after serving four months in prison related to Anti-Money Laundering charges.
- Lawyer Teresa Goody Guillén disputes accusations linking CZ to Trump’s crypto ventures and refutes Senator Elizabeth Warren’s statements.
- Guillén calls the pardon a matter of justice, citing CZ as a scapegoat in the broader crypto regulatory crackdown.
Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, co-founder of Binance, was pardoned by former U.S. President Donald Trump in October 2024 after serving four months in prison. His time in jail followed charges related to the company’s alleged failure to implement proper Anti-Money Laundering protocols. The pardon was granted amid claims that the offense was not criminal.
CZ’s attorney, Teresa Goody Guillén, spoke on the Pomp Podcast, denying that CZ paid for the pardon or had improper ties to Trump’s business ventures. She described media reports about the connection as “a pile up of a lot of false statements” and challenged accusations that linked CZ to Trump’s crypto company World Liberty, saying, “I haven’t seen anything to show me that that’s true.” Guillén also criticized assumptions revealing a misunderstanding of blockchain and business operations.
Criticism arose after the pardon, notably from Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, who labeled it corruption and accused CZ of lobbying for the pardon while benefiting Trump’s crypto projects. Guillén disputed Warren’s claims, stating that CZ had not been convicted of crimes Warren attributed to him and dismissed suggestions of further criminal liability. Guillén called attention to the legal immunities U.S. politicians enjoy, noting, “the immunity that’s given to these folks is not what our founding fathers had wanted.”
Guillén framed the pardon as a matter of justice rather than favoritism. She argued CZ was targeted unfairly as part of a regulatory crackdown on the crypto industry, following the collapse of FTX and the wider “war on crypto.” Guillén highlighted that CZ had no history of fraud, victims, or previous criminal offenses, saying, “He’s the only person who has ever been prosecuted and then worse, sent to prison for you know this specific charge or anything similar.” She described CZ as a scapegoat while executives in traditional finance rarely face jail over comparable issues.
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