A historic settlement has been ratified by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
The settlement requires the cryptocurrency exchange Binance and its former leader, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), to pay the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) a total of $2.7 billion and $150 million, respectively.
The notice made by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Monday confirmed that the settlement had been approved. It was initially agreed in November as part of a comprehensive arrangement that included the Department of Justice (DoJ), the CFTC, and two bureaus of the United States Treasury.
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Both the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and the laws of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) were found to have been breached by Binance and CZ, as evidenced by the formalized settlement. Binance is required to pay an additional $1.35 billion penalty to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in addition to disbursing $1.35 billion in “ill-gotten transaction fees” as stipulated by the conditions.
Additionally, CZ will be personally responsible for paying a civil monetary penalty of $150 million. A plea bargain reached in November resulted in CZ’s resignation as the chief executive officer of Binance, which was accompanied by his admission of guilt for breaching laws in the United States that prohibit money laundering and sanctions.
According to the findings of the inquiry, Binance has concealed more than one hundred thousand suspicious transactions with organizations that the United States government has designated as terrorist groups.
Furthermore, the exchange was involved in transactions that were related with websites that were engaged in the sale of child pornography and sexual abuse.
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