ILLINOIS - The crypto exchange Binance and its former CEO, Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, was ordered respectively to pay $2.7 billion and $150 million to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for anti-money laundering violation. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has officially approved a consent order against Binance and its former CEO, Changpeng Zhao, concluding the enforcement action initiated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), reported CryptoTvPlus.
The court’s decision, formalizing a settlement first disclosed on November 21 it's an historical event in the CFTC’s efforts to enforce regulatory compliance in the digital asset space.
“The court determined that Zhao and Binance violated the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations, imposed a $150 million civil monetary penalty against Zhao personally, and required Binance to repay 1.35 billion dollars in illicit transaction fees and to pay a $1.35 billion fine to the CFTC,” the Commission wrote in the statement.
Since March 27 against CZ and Binance the agency sued the executive and the exchange for evading federal laws and operating an illegal derivatives exchange.
For Zhao the Department of Justice could provide an 18-month sentence, while Binance will pay 1.8 billion dollars within the next 15 months and another 2.51 billion dollars later, as part of the deal. “I must take my responsibilities, this is the best thing for our community, for Binance and for myself,” said the billionaire, certainly aware that, facing a trial and faced with the gravity of the accusations, the punishment could have been far superior.
SOURCES: CrytpotvPlus
Ilaria Vanni is a TV journalist for italian broadcasting and coordinator of The Meta Economist portal. She has a philosphy degree and she's now studing the economic and technological issues connected to the new frontiers of the metaverse.
