In a court filing on Tuesday, United States prosecutors recommended a 36-month prison sentence for Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. This comes after Zhao pleaded guilty to violating laws against money laundering.
Zhao is expected to be sentenced on April 30 in Seattle. He stepped down as Binance’s chief in November, when he and the exchange admitted to the violations, agreeing to a penalty of $4.32 billion.
Prosecutors argued that an above-guidelines sentence is warranted due to the magnitude of Zhao’s violations and their consequences. Federal sentencing guidelines set a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison, but prosecutors are seeking a longer sentence.
Zhao has been free in the United States on a $175-million bond. He agreed to pay $50 million and cease involvement with Binance, which he founded in 2017.
Binance’s penalty included a $1.8 billion criminal fine and restitution of $2.51 billion. US authorities alleged that Binance failed to report over 100,000 suspicious transactions with designated terrorist groups, including Hamas, al Qaeda, and ISIS.
The platform also supported the sale of child sexual abuse materials and received a large portion of ransomware proceeds.
