The pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) by former President Donald Trump has triggered a political scandal in the U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren accused Trump of accepting a bribe, while Zhao and his supporters dismiss the allegations as false and politically motivated.
Warren, a Democratic senator, claimed that Zhao pleaded guilty to money-laundering charges and then financed Trump’s stablecoin USD1 with $2 billion to secure a pardon.
“If Congress doesn’t stop this kind of corruption, it will become complicit,” she wrote in X.
CZ Responds
Context added by users to Warren’s post clarifies that her accusation does not align with official case materials. According to documents from the U.S. Department of Justice, Zhao pleaded guilty to one count – violating the Bank Secrecy Act due to the lack of an effective anti-money laundering program – but not to actual money laundering.
Changpeng Zhao responded, saying the senator “can’t even get the facts right.” He emphasized that he was never charged with money laundering and reminded that Elizabeth Warren “publicly declared war on the crypto industry” just days before his sentencing. Zhao called it “a clear example of how Biden’s Justice Department is being used as a weapon against crypto.”
What Trump Says
Donald Trump, for his part, said he pardoned Zhao because he was not guilty. The former president called the Binance founder a victim of political persecution by the Biden administration.
According to Trump, Zhao’s actions were not criminal, and the decision to grant a pardon was made “at the request of many respectable people.”
Updated: Senate Democrats reportedly plan to challenge Trump’s pardon of Changpeng Zhao.
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