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Interesting developments continue to unfold in the cryptocurrency market. According to a court filing made public, former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, despite being found guilty of violating the requirements of the United States Department of Justice for Anti-Money Laundering, is now facing new legal procedures.
The Case of the Department of Justice and Changpeng Zhao
During this process, it is claimed that CZ will be sentenced in February 2024. While CZ and his family await the trial, he is also resisting the government’s attempts to extradite him to the United Arab Emirates. However, authorities revealed in a recent application made on November 24th that CZ may face a harsher sentence than initially anticipated:
“The defense claims that Mr. Zhao is only facing a short sentence and has no incentive to flee. The truth is that the range of penalties can go up to 18 months and the United States is free to defend any penalty up to ten years, which is the legal maximum in the United States.”
A longer sentence than expected goes against the consensus among legal experts. According to John Reed Stark, a former official of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Zhao will likely receive a minimum security prison sentence of 12-18 months under the US Sentencing Guidelines. However, it is also speculated that Zhao’s legal team may request an alternative sentence that combines home confinement and supervised release, or even argue against a prison sentence altogether.
A Deterrent Sentence for CZ Should Be Considered
The duration of the sentence will also impact Zhao’s interest in the crypto market. According to Stark, if the Department of Justice does not impose a sentence that deters money laundering in the crypto market, this defense agreement could potentially be revisited.
Seeking a longer prison sentence for Zhao is not an easy process for the Department of Justice. According to Stark’s report, government officials will need to present more substantial evidence linking Zhao to criminal activities. Stark commented the following:
“Hopefully, the Department of Justice has something up their sleeve, or perhaps further monitoring of Binance and other regulatory requirements will reveal more terrifying and indictable crimes.”
