Binance CEO guilty, crypto firm pays $4 billion fine

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) -The Justice Department is celebrating a historic crackdown on the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.

Binance has agreed to pay a roughly $4 billion settlement, and its founder and CEO, Changpeng Zhao, has pleaded guilty to a felony and resigned.

Attorney General Merrick Garland says that’s the standard companies must meet if they want to do business in the U.S. and he says the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange failed to do it. 

“Binance prioritized its profits over the safety of the American people,” he said.

Garland and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said a sprawling investigation found Binance allowed nearly 2 million transactions that violated U.S. sanctions, including ones involving Hamas and ISIS.

These officials say the transactions helped catapult Binance to the top of the crypto industry.

“Now, Binance is paying one of the largest corporate penalties in U.S. history,” Garland said.

The Justice Department has now successfully prosecuted the CEOs of two of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges.

In the earlier case, the founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, was found guilty of fraud.

Garland added, “The message here should be clear: using new technology to break the law does not make you a disruptor. It makes you a criminal.”

The Justice Department also announced it seized nearly $9 million in crypto from an online scam that exploited dozens of victims across the U.S.

The department says the victims believed they were investing their crypto into trusted firms, but the firms didn’t actually exist.

If you are a victim of a cryptocurrency scam you can file a report with the FBI at ic3.gov.