Crypto founder pardoned by Trump denies having ties to president's family
The convicted founder of Binance the world s largest crypto exchange mentioned he was a little bit surprised by President Donald Trump's pardon of him on Special Review Friday We have never met former Binance CEO Changpeng CZ Zhao described Special Assessment anchor Bret Baier in an unique interview We have never talked TRUMP CRYPTO CHIEF SAYS WE ARE IN THE 'GOLDEN AGE' FOR DIGITAL ASSETS 'CLEARING THE DECK' OF BIDEN BARRIERSIn Zhao pleaded guilty to a money-laundering related charge He served a four-month prison sentence under the Biden administration President Donald Trump pardoned him Oct according to the Department of Justice White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt touted Trump s pardon as officially end ing the Biden administration s war on the cryptocurrency industry On Sunday Trump reported in a Minutes interview he does not know Zhao TRUMP TAUNTS ' MINUTES' DURING INTERVIEW SAYS SHOW PAID HIM 'A LOT OF MONEY'The cryptocurrency founder similarly denied having ties to the Trump family despite The Wall Street Journal attributing Zhao s pardon to Binance s alleged deal with the Trumps cryptocurrency project World Liberty Financial That s thoroughly not accurate Zhao stated on Special Assessment There s no deal there has never been any discussions It's as simple as that However Zhao mentioned he met American Bitcoin co-founder and Trump's son Eric Trump once at the Bitcoin MENA conference in Abu Dhabi Zhao called the WSJ s reporting categorically false denying any business relationships with Trump s sons He also addressed why he pleaded guilty to a violation of the Bank Secrecy Act which included failure to properly implement an effective anti-money-laundering venture I think it s the best way to confront the concern and solve it head-on he revealed later adding I do not have anything to debate on the charges TRUMP VOWS TO MAKE US CRYPTO CAPITAL OF THE PLANET ' SIGNS GENIUS ACT INTO LAWZhao cited Trump s GENIUS Act which defined federal regulations for cryptocurrency as a marker of the U S leading in crypto rules The more clarity we have in the industry the better Zhao argued I think in the last administration even when I was charged and even when I pleaded guilty there wasn't any clear regulatory frameworks for crypto in the U S so I think now it's getting much clearer and U S is definitely leading he added The Wall Street Journal responded to Zhao s comments telling Special Account We stand by our reporting Both Fox News and The Wall Street Journal are owned by News Corp
