US prosecutors are urging former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao to give up his passports and remain in the country for the duration of his trial.
Prosecutors want Zhao to give the court at least three days’ notice before traveling to the US, according to a court filing.
They also request that Zhao not change his residence or surrender his Canadian passport to a third-party custodian employed and supervised by the court. Prosecutors want the third-party custodian to accompany the former Binance CEO when he travels anywhere where identification documents are required.
Furthermore, they want Zhao to surrender all his passports, including those that have already expired, along with his travel documents.
Finally, they want the ex-Binance head to be barred from obtaining a new passport or travel document from any other country without court approval.
Zhao, a Canadian citizen and resident of the United Arab Emirates, is currently in the US, free on $175 million bail. Due to his level of wealth, the former CEO was deemed a flight risk by U.S. District Judge Richard Jones.
When Zhao pleaded guilty in November, he agreed to resign as CEO of Binance in addition to paying a $50 million fine. Binance agreed to pay $4.3 billion in restitution costs.
In a CNBC interview, Rostin Behnam, chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), says he expects Zhao will spend time in prison after pleading guilty to failing to comply with adequate anti-money laundering protocols for Binance,’ the world’s largest crypto exchange.
“We have more than $4 billion in criminal and civil fines. The CFTC, Justice [Department] and the Treasury. Obviously there’s the criminal side, so he goes to jail.
The ruling will take some time. So I think we work together in law enforcement, both criminal and civil [and] we feel like we have a bad actor here and it sends a clear message.”
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