courtesy: CNN
Advertisement
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao is ready to step down from his post and plead guilty after facing criminal charges from U.S. authorities for breaching anti-money laundering rules. Sources say this could help the world’s biggest crypto exchange stay in business.
The $4 billion settlement will be with the Department of Justice and Commodities Futures Trading Commission, while the Securities and Exchange Commission will not be participating.
As a part of the deal, Zhao will enter the plea in federal court in Seattle on Tuesday afternoon, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The crypto giant and its founder were accused of operating an unregistered exchange and misleading investors by SEC in June. The authorities claimed that the deed was carried out by a Switzerland-based fund Sigma Chain, which was also owned by CZ, to inflate trading volume on Binance’s U.S. platform.
“Through thirteen charges, we allege that Zhao and Binance entities engage in an extensive web of deception, conflicts of interest, lack of disclosure, and calculated evasion of the law,” said Gary Genslar, chair of SEC, in June.
On Monday, it was reported by Bloomberg that Binance has agreed to pay a sum of $4 billion in settlement with the Justice Department. This would end the investigation from JD’s end which began at least in 2018.