On Thursday, the crypto community on social media site X (formerly Twitter) speculated that Binance co-founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, had been released from prison a month before the end of his four-month sentence. However, Changpeng Zhao, the co-founder and former CEO of Binance, was released from prison a month before the end of his four-month sentence. Reports A different story has been revealed.
CZ was transferred to a facility in Long Beach.
Contrary to popular rumors, Zhao was not fully released from prison. Instead, he was transferred to an administrative facility in the greater Los Angeles area just 38 days before his scheduled release date.
According to information from the US Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Ciao He is now classified as an inmate at the Long Beach Residential Reintegration Management (RRM) office, which oversees federal offenders in Central and Southern California.
Zhao’s legal complications stem from his guilty plea last November to violating the Bank Secrecy Act. In April, a federal judge sentenced him to a shorter prison term than prosecutors had requested, but longer than sentences imposed on other crypto executives for similar crimes.
Currently serving sentence At Lompoc II, a low-security federal prison in Santa Barbara County, California, Zhao’s conditions stand in stark contrast to those of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who is serving a 25-year sentence at New York’s Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC).
The Legal Journey of Binance Founder
Last November, Zhao hostel As CEO of Binance, he pleaded guilty to a criminal charge as part of a settlement with U.S. authorities. The agreement included a $4.3 billion civil regulatory penalty for Binance and a ban that bars Zhao from holding executive roles in any Cryptocurrency The company in the future.
Before entering prison, Zhao intended to devote his time to writing during his incarceration. Despite speculation online, there is no definitive evidence to suggest that Zhao was free after his transfer, with the Bureau of Prisons website listing his release date as September 29.
With a net worth estimated at $36.5 billion, as shown detailed According to Bloomberg, Zhao’s imprisonment likely makes him the richest individual ever arrested in the United States.
At the time of writing, the exchange’s native token, Binance Coin (BNB), is trading at $585 for the first time in nearly a month, before the August 5 market crash sent the token to a 6-month low of $400.
As the broader market surged on Friday led by the largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC), Binance Coin posted a 1.6% price gain. However, the fourth-largest digital asset is still down 18% from its all-time high of $717 on June 6 this year.
Featured image by DALL-E, chart by TradingView.com