US prosecutors are asking for 3 years in prison for “CZ”, the founder of Binance, double the normal sentence

US prosecutors handling the case against Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the founder of the world’s largest cryptocurrency trading platform Binance, are seeking a 36-month prison sentence for him, Reuters reports.

Zhao, who is due to be sentenced on April 30 in Seattle, resigned as CEO of Binance in November when Binance admitted to a wide range of wrongdoing and agreed to pay a fine of 4, $32 billion, one of the largest in American corporate history.

“Given the magnitude of Zhao’s willful violation of US law and its ramifications, a sentence of 36 months above the guidelines is warranted,” federal prosecutors noted in court filings.

Federal sentencing guidelines in such cases state that the maximum sentence for the crimes Zhao admitted to is 18 months in prison. As part of a plea deal with prosecutors in November, Zhao agreed not to contest a prison sentence of up to 18 months.

He is free in the United States after posting $175 million bail.

Serious allegations against Binance

US authorities have accused Binance of failing to report more than 100,000 suspicious transactions on its trading platform, including from groups designated as terrorist organizations by the US government, such as Hamas, Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.

“Binance became the largest cryptocurrency trading platform in part because of the crimes it committed. He will now pay one of the largest corporate fines in the history of the United States,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said last November.

US prosecutors also allege that the Binance platform was used to “launder” funds obtained from the sale of child abuse content and that it was used to transact large sums of money obtained from “ransomware” cyber attacks.

As part of the plea deal, Zhao agreed to pay a $50 million fine and withdraw from Binance, a company he founded in 2017.

“CZ” tried to pass himself off as a “different” crypto entrepreneur

The allegations sent shockwaves through the crypto world as Zhao, better known by the nickname “CZ”, has for years cultivated, both for himself and Binance, an image of seriousness and reliable investment in a crypto world known for spectacular rises and falls amid volatility and many scams.

The contrast between “CZ” and other crypto entrepreneurs seemed to become all the more apparent after the November 2022 collapse of FTX and the arrest of its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried.

FTX was at the time the second largest crypto trading platform in the world in terms of transaction volume, second only to Binance.

In March, Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison for looting FTX and defrauding its investors,