“I failed here,” Zhao said before US District Judge Richard A. Jones issued the sentence. “I deeply regret my failure,and I am sorry.”
“He made a business decision that violating US law was the best way to attract users,build his company,and line his pockets,” the Justice Department wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed last week.
Despite Zhao’s well-publicised criminal case,he has held onto his personal fortune though estimates of the size of it vary. Bloomberg says he has a $US39.7 billion ($62 billion) fortune,making him the 38th-richest person in the world. Forbes estimates he is worth $US33 billion ($51 billion). He now becomes the world’s richest prisoner and will enter the history books as the richest person ever to do time in a US jail since his ownership of Binance remains intact.
Zhao’s attorneys,insisted he should receive no prison term at all,citing his willingness to come from the United Arab Emirates,where he and his family live,to the US to plead guilty,despite the UAE’s lack of an extradition treaty with the US. No one has ever been sentenced to prison time for similar violations of the Bank Secrecy Act,they said.
“I want to take responsibility and close this chapter in my life,” Zhao said when he entered his guilty plea to one count of failing to prevent money laundering. “I want to come back. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here today.”
But prosecutors say no one has ever violated the Bank Secrecy Act to the extent Zhao did. The three-year prison term they were seeking was twice the guideline range for the crime. Binance allowed more than 1.5 million virtual currency trades — totaling nearly $US900 million — that violated US sanctions,including ones involving Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades,al-Qaeda and Iran.