Canada's richest man, Changpeng Zhao, gets Trump pardon
Canada’s richest man, Changpeng Zhao, has been pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Zhao, also known as CZ, is the former CEO and co-founder of Binance, one of the world’s biggest crypto exchanges. According to Maclean’s magazine, although the Thomson family remain Canada’s wealthiest family, with a combined net worth of C$98.15 billion, Zhao is the richest individual in Canada with an estimated net worth of C$61 billion.
In 2023, Zhao pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and “causing Binance to violate the BSA by causing Binance to fail to implement an effective anti-money laundering program.” He spent four months in prison in California in 2024. According to Reuters, Binance paid a US$4.3-billion penalty, while Zhao paid a US$50-million criminal fine and another US$50 million to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
CNN reported that U.S. authorities alleged that Binance enabled transactions for child sex abuse, narcotics, and terrorist financing.
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However, on Thursday, Oct. 23, Trump announced that he had pardoned Zhao, stating, “I don’t believe I’ve ever met him, but he had a lot of support — a lot of support. And they said that what he did is not even a crime.”
In response, Zhao shared a message on X stating that he was “deeply grateful” to Trump for “upholding America’s commitment to fairness, innovation, and justice.”
“Will do everything we can to help make America the Capital of Crypto and advance web3 worldwide. Onwards,” he wrote.
Deeply grateful for today’s pardon and to President Trump for upholding America’s commitment to fairness, innovation, and justice.
🙏🙏🙏🙏Will do everything we can to help make America the Capital of Crypto and advance web3 worldwide.
(Still in flight, more posts to come.)…
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) October 23, 2025
During a press briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump is “exercising his constitutional authority to grant clemency requests.”
“This was an overly prosecuted case by the Biden administration,” said Leavitt. “Even the judge in the case admitted that the Biden administration was pursuing an egregious over-sentencing of this individual, and the previous administration was very hostile to the cryptocurrency industry.”
Congressional Digest, an independent scholarly publication, states that a presidential pardon was added to the Constitution of the United States to “safeguard against judicial decisions later deemed too harsh.”
“It allows the president to grant clemency to individuals charged with federal crimes without seeking approval from other branches of government,” reads the site. “The pardons are not subject to override.”
However, it also points out the potential abuse of this privilege.
“Some have argued that presidents have abused their pardon power to ‘save’ individuals with whom they have a connection, such as former business partners or campaign donors,” states the site.
Trump’s decision to pardon Zhao drew sharp criticism from U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren.
CZ pleaded guilty to a criminal money laundering charge and was sentenced to prison.
But then he financed President Trump’s stablecoin and lobbied for a pardon.
Today, he got it.
If Congress does not stop this kind of corruption, it owns it. pic.twitter.com/NsWeaJcVeK
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) October 23, 2025
Warren doubled down in a statement, accusing Zhao of boosting “one of Donald Trump’s crypto ventures and lobbying for a pardon.”
“Today, Donald Trump did his part and pardoned him. If Congress does not stop this kind of corruption in pending market structure legislation, it owns this lawlessness,” she said.
In response, Zhao threatened to sue Warren for defamation, as he was never convicted of money laundering, but for violating the BSA.
His lawyer told The New York Post that Zhao “will not remain silent while a United States senator seemingly misuses the office to repeatedly publish defamatory statements that impugn his reputation.”