Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the former CEO of Binance, has been subject to new travel restrictions, which the US Attorney’s Office has asked a federal judge to grant. In a document filed on February 23 in the Western District of Washington U.S. Attorney Tessa Gorman asked Magistrate Judge Brian Tsuchida to grant a motion outlining the terms under which CZ will be released on bond. Zhao’s attorneys requested that he remain in the continental United States until his April 30 sentence hearing and that he give three days’ notice before departing so that the government might object.
CZ was requested by the U.S. Attorney’s Office to turn over to his legal representatives “all other current and expired passports and travel documents” in addition to his Canadian passport. In addition, Zhao is a citizen of the United Arab Emirates, where the judge turned down his plea to visit family prior to punishment. Zhao’s counsel “objects to this motion as written,” indicating that his legal team may keep looking for a means to get the former CEO of Binance out of the country, according to the petition. CZ entered a guilty plea to one felony count in November 2023 for neglecting to keep Binance’s anti-money laundering program up to date. He has been free since the indictment was issued thanks to a $175 million bond.
As part of a $4.3 billion agreement between the cryptocurrency exchange and US authorities, Zhao resigned as CEO of Binance. Judge Richard Jones accepted the $1.8 billion fine and $2.5 billion forfeiture on February 23. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against CZ, Binance, and Binance.US in June 2023. The case is still pending. Judge Jones stated during the hearing on February 23 that “this really is a case where the ethics of the company were compromised by greed.”Following CZ’s exit, Richard Teng, a former regional markets leader at Binance, assumed the role of CEO. In an interview with Cointelegraph from December 2023, Teng, the CEO, said the exchange was “completely different” from its operations six years earlier.