Billionaire Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering before president freed him last month

Trump says he doesn’t know who crypto tycoon is despite having pardoned him

Billionaire Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering before president freed him last month
Oliver Milman
Mon 3 Nov 2025 15.15 CET

Donald Trump has said that he doesn’t know who Changpeng Zhao is despite pardoning the billionaire founder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance in October.

The US president was asked in a 60 Minutes interview that aired on Sunday why he pardoned Zhao, who is also known as “CZ”, for enabling money laundering despite him causing “significant harm to … national security” according to federal prosecutors.

“OK, are you ready? I don’t know who he is,” Trump told Norah O’Donnell, the host of CBS News’ 60 Minutes. Trump added that he did not remember meeting Zhao, had “no idea who he is” other than being told that the multibillionaire crypto boss was a victim of a “witch-hunt” by former president Joe Biden.

In 2023, Zhao pleaded guilty to charges that he broke rules designed to stop money laundering – after Binance allegedly failed to report suspicious transactions with organizations including Hamas and al-Qaida.
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Zhao apologized, paid a $50m fine and had served nearly four months in prison before being pardoned by Trump, with the White House saying he was prosecuted due to Biden’s “war on cryptocurrency”.

Trump has said he wants the US to be a leader in cryptocurrency and Zhao, in thanking the president for his pardon, promised on X to “do everything we can to help make America the Capital of Crypto”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/03/trump-changpeng-zhao-cz-pardon-crypto

>>519293354
I think he's more of a psychopath. Hasn't anyone examined him?

>>106623113
Obvious Trump setup this shitty deal in order to save intcel

Just give NVIDIA an x86 license, we need to drain the swamp of x86 duopoly.

If we had a sane admin in DC they would force intel make the X86 license public in exchange for the $10B bail out.

This is a shitty deal for Nvidia and they'll never get these $5B back.

>>939680413
I can't believe that Trump predicted this guy's face.

>>513668390
He will never give Ukraine tomahawks

Why did he do it?

USA vai acabar se dando mal com essa arrogância toda. Mark my words.

>>508243385
>>508243346
>it was real in his mind

>>507907852
>PRESIDENT TRUMP HAS ORDERED AN ATTACK ON IRAN, BUT HAS NOT YET GIVEN FINAL APPROVAL. - Wall Street Journal.

BREAKING:
I HAVE ORDERED CHEESE PIZZA BUT I HAVE YET TO MAKE THE ACUTAL ORDER

When will this stupid turd start to take the presidency seriously?

TRUMP ENDED THE PEACE DEAL WITH IRAN. THIS ONE IS ONE HIM TOO.