This Wednesday, through an open letter, seven Democratic senators, including Elizabeth Warren and Bernard Sanders, formally requested that Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice (DOJ) provide information about the presidential pardon granted by Donald Trump to Changpeng “CZ” Zhao. The lawmakers argued that pardoning CZ “sends a signal to cryptocurrency executives and other white-collar criminals that they can commit crimes with impunity,” accusing Trump of encouraging criminal activity “as long as they enrich him.”
This request adds to previous criticism from Representative Maxine Waters and underscores the alleged connection between Trump and Binance. The senators allege that the Trump family launched a DeFi platform (WLFI) linked to Binance’s operations, which allegedly provided the president with “a revenue stream worth millions of dollars.” They maintain that this pardon, which reportedly followed intense lobbying by Binance, “flagrantly” undermines the work of federal law enforcement.
The lawmakers are now demanding that the DOJ clarify the expected effect of the pardon on deterring future financial crimes, especially in the crypto industry. Additionally, they seek official clarification on whether Trump’s alleged financial ties to CZ influenced the decision to pardon Zhao, who pleaded guilty in 2024 to violating the Bank Secrecy Act due to failures in Binance’s anti-money laundering (AML) programs.
Source:https://www.banking.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/letter_to_doj_treasury_re_binance_pardon.pdf
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