Binance Founder Changpeng Zhao to Appear in Court Today for Sentencing

SEATTLE — Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao will learn how much time, if any, he’ll spend in prison Tuesday.

The former crypto executive pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Bank Secrecy Act last November, a charge which might normally carry up to 10 years in prison. Because of his guilty plea and his cooperation, the sentencing guidelines calculation for his sentence would actually fall to about 18 months. A presentence report filed by the court’s Probation Office recommended he spend just five months.

Both the U.S. Department of Justice and his defense team have advanced vastly differing recommendations: The DOJ asked a federal judge to sentence Zhao to three years in prison, twice what was laid out in his plea agreement. His defense, on the other hand, asked for no prison time, suggesting he be sentenced to house arrest and probation instead.

The defense filing included a proposal from a security company for how it could secure Zhao’s home.

Zhao’s plea deal also saw him agree to pay a $50 million fine, a small fraction of his estimated net worth. Bloomberg reported Monday that he might have some $43 billion in assets to his name. Should he get sentenced to more than 18 months in prison, Zhao can appeal that penalty.

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, agreed to pay a $4.3 billion fine the same day Zhao pleaded guilty to his charge. The agreement also saw him step down from the exchange he’d founded in 2017.