Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao is threatening to sue 1 Elizabeth Warren for defamation, escalating a political and legal clash sparked by his recent presidential 2 move comes after the Massachusetts Democrat accused him of money laundering in a post on X, a claim his legal team says is false and 3 pleaded guilty to a criminal money laundering charge and was sentenced to 4 then he financed President Trump’s stablecoin and lobbied for a pardon. Today, he got 5 Congress does not stop this kind of corruption, it owns 6 — Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) October 23, 2025 The dispute began shortly after President Donald Trump pardoned Zhao last week , wiping away the remaining penalties from his 2023 plea deal with the 7 of 8 48-year-old crypto billionaire had served a four-month prison sentence and paid a $50 million fine after pleading guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Ac t, not for money laundering, but for failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering (AML) program while running 9 Warren Under Fire for Claim That CZ Was Convicted of Money Laundering In her post, Warren wrote , “CZ pleaded guilty to a criminal money laundering charge and was sentenced to 10 then he financed President Trump’s stablecoin and lobbied for a pardon.
Today, he got 11 Congress does not stop this kind of corruption, it owns it.” The statement quickly drew criticism from legal experts and fact-checkers. @SenWarren torched Trump’s pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao @cz_binance , calling the move “corruption” and urging Congress to step in. #CZ #TrumpPardon 0 — 12 (@cryptonews) October 24, 2025 X itself added a “readers added context” note clarifying that Zhao “did not plead guilty to money laundering.” Instead, he admitted to compliance failures under the Bank Secrecy Act, a technical violation that carried no allegations of fraud or personal laundering of funds. Zhao’s attorney, Teresa Goody Guillen, told
Story Tags
Latest news and analysis from cryptonews
