Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao’s lawyers are petitioning a U.S. judge to deny the Justice Department’s request to prevent him from returning to the United Arab Emirates until he is sentenced for violating anti-money laundering laws. In a recent filing, his legal team urged U.S. District Judge Richard Jones in Seattle to uphold bail conditions that would enable Zhao to leave the U.S. while awaiting sentencing, as initially set a magistrate judge.
Zhao, a citizen of the UAE and Canada, recently stepped down as CEO of Binance after pleading guilty to charges of deliberately causing the global cryptocurrency exchange to fail in maintaining an effective anti-money laundering program. This comes after U.S. authorities accused Binance of violating anti-money laundering and sanctions laws, and failing to report over 100,000 suspicious transactions with organizations linked to terrorist groups such as Hamas, al Qaeda, and ISIS. As part of a plea deal, Binance agreed to pay more than $4.3 billion, while Zhao himself agreed to pay a $150 million penalty to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and could face up to 18 months in prison.
The Justice Department has requested Judge Jones to reverse the decision to allow Zhao to return home, warning that the lack of an extradition treaty with the UAE could make it difficult to bring Zhao back for sentencing, especially given his significant assets as a multi-billionaire. However, Zhao’s lawyers have argued that his compliance with a substantial bail package and his voluntary acceptance of responsibility for his actions demonstrates that he is not a flight risk.
Allowing Zhao to return to the UAE, his lawyers say, would enable him to care for his partner and children and prepare them for his sentencing. The Justice Department, on the other hand, maintains that Zhao’s release before sentencing was a rare and exceptional decision, primarily due to the belief that the risk of flight could be managed through travel restrictions. They emphasized that in most cases, a defendant of Zhao’s profile would be detained.