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Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, was criminally charged with breaking sanctions and money-transmitting laws and agreed to pay $4.3 billion to settle the allegations in "one of the largest penalties" the U.S. has ever obtained from a corporate defendant.
Founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao pleaded guilty in Seattle to charges he personally faced and agreed to pay a $50 million fine, as well as step down from the CEO job. Richard Teng, a former Abu Dhabi regulator and later Binance's regional markets head, will take over as CEO.
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.Zhao pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act and causing a financial institution to violate the BSA, according to another filing. His fine will be credited against the amount he owes the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
"Binance employees knew and discussed that the company was serving thousands of users in sanctioned countries, and they knew that facilitating transactions between U.S. users and users in sanctioned countries would be in violation of U.S. law. But they did it anyway," Attorney General Merrick Garland said during a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
The $4.3 billion Binance is paying is among the largest penalties ever obtained from a corporate defendant, Garland said. The exchange's overall fine remains $4.3 billion, with some amount being credited to each agency.
Separately, the U.S. Treasury Department and CFTC announced their own settlements with Binance. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen noted that Binance's settlement with her department's money laundering and sanctions watchdogs was the largest in Treasury history.
Read more: Binance Got Huge Due to U.S. Customers. That Was Illegal, U.S. Says
Under the terms of its plea, Binance will have to appoint an independent compliance monitor for three years and report its compliance efforts to the U.S. government, alongside the fines. Zhao is prohibited from "any present or future involvement in operating or managing" Binance, though that ban ends three years after the monitor is appointed.
A resolution of the Binance case represents another major U.S. government victory against a big crypto player, coming just weeks after FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty of fraud and conspiracy charges tied to his crypto exchange.
Zhao "prioritized Binance's growth, market share and profits over compliance with" U.S. banking regulations, according to unsealed filings. "Better to ask for forgiveness than permission," he told his employees, the document said. That mindset pervaded Binance's operations in what Zhao termed the U.S. "Grey zone." He saw to it that Binance did not collect "know-your-customer" information on its users because he believed it would inhibit its growth and appeal.
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