Binance CEO Resigns After Pleading Guilty to Money-Laundering Charges, Crypto Exchange to Pay $4.3 Billion in Penalties

variety.com:

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Binance Holdings, operator of the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, pleaded guilty to U.S. criminal charges that it violated the Bank Secrecy Act and other laws and will pay $4.3 billion to resolve the investigation, the Justice Department said Tuesday. In addition, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao entered a guilty plea of failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program in violation of the BSA, according to the DOJ.

Zhao has stepped down as CEO of the company. “Binance became the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange in part because of the crimes it committed — now it is paying one of the largest corporate penalties in U.S. history,” U.S.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. Garland alluded to the U.S. government’s prosecution of another cryptocurrency executive, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who a jury found guilty on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy earlier this month.

“The message here should be clear: using new technology to break the law does not make you a disruptor, it makes you a criminal,” Garland said. Binance’s “willful failures allowed money to flow to terrorists, cybercriminals and child abusers through its platform,” Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen said in a statement. “Today’s historic penalties and monitorship to ensure compliance with U.S.

law and regulations mark a milestone for the virtual currency industry. Any institution, wherever located, that wants to reap the benefits of the U.S. financial system must also play by the rules that keep us all safe from terrorists, foreign adversaries, and crime or face the consequences.” In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Zhao wrote in part, “Today, I stepped down as CEO of