Overview
- In a 60 Minutes interview aired Sunday, President Trump said he did not know Changpeng “CZ” Zhao when asked why he granted the pardon.
- CZ pleaded guilty in 2023 to anti–money-laundering violations, served four months in prison, and agreed to step down as Binance CEO as the company paid about $4.3 billion in penalties.
- Lawmakers led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren requested documents and explanations from DOJ and Treasury, citing potential conflicts tied to the Trump family’s crypto venture and setting a Nov. 4 response deadline.
- Reporting has detailed Binance’s engineering work on World Liberty Financial’s USD1 stablecoin and a $2 billion MGX transaction using USD1; days after the pardon, Binance said it would list USD1, prompting new corruption allegations.
- The White House defended the pardon as correcting a “war on cryptocurrency” and denied any conflicts of interest, while analysts note the action does not automatically change CZ’s regulatory standing or Binance’s compliance obligations.