Binance CEO Becomes Latest Kingpin to Fall With Guilty Plea

Just weeks after former crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted on seven counts, another titan of the industry is losing his throne.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao plead guilty on Tuesday to “violating and causing a financial institution to violate” the Bank Secrecy Act, which requires financial institutions to help weed out money laundering, according to documents filed in Seattle federal court. Zhao, known as CZ, agreed to pay a $50 million fine and resign from the company. It wasn’t immediately clear what sentence he may face.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said during a press conference that Zhao “willfully violated federal law that guards against money laundering and terrorist financing.”