A U.S. judge on Friday accepted Binance’s guilty plea and fine of more than $4.3 billion (roughly Rs. 35,635 crore) for violating federal anti-money laundering and anti-money laundering regulations due to internal control lapses. Sanctions Law.

An hour after the government proposed changes to Binance founder Changpeng, US District Judge Richard Jones in Seattle approved the request, which included a $1.81 billion (roughly Rs. 15,000 crore) criminal fine and $2.51 billion. (approximately 20,801 billion rupees) in confiscation of Zhao’s bail, arousing opposition from Zhao’s lawyers.

Binance announced a guilty plea in November, resolving a years-long investigation that found the exchange failed to report more than 100,000 transactions involving designated terrorist groups including Hamas, al-Qaeda, and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). 100,000 suspicious transactions.

Prosecutors said the Binance platform also enabled the sale of child sexual abuse material and was one of the largest recipients of ransomware proceeds.

Binance said in a statement on Friday that it took responsibility, upgraded its anti-money laundering and know-your-customer protocols and made “significant progress” on changes required by the plea agreement.

Zhao was released on $175 million (approximately Rs. 1,450 crore) bail in the United States after pleading guilty to money laundering in November.

His request included a fine of $50 million (approximately Rs 414 crore) and his resignation as Binance CEO.

Prosecutors said in a court filing that the proposed bail change was intended to reflect Jones’ order that Mr. Zhao should remain in the mainland United States and be supervised by court officials until sentencing on April 30.

The conditions include that Zhao must give three days’ notice of any travel plans, surrender his passport and retain his current residence unless he is approved for changes.

Pretrial services officials recommended that Zhao also be placed on location monitoring.

Prosecutors said they had discussed the changes multiple times with Zhao’s attorneys, but they “opposed the written motion.”

Zhao’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The cases are United States v. Binance Holdings Ltd., No. 23-cr-00178, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, and United States v. Zhao Zhao, No. 23-cr-00179, in the same court.

© Thomson Reuters 2024

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