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there are rumors that zhao changpeng, the former richest man in china and founder of binance, is about to be released from prison. the reporter confirmed the news from the u.s. federal bureau of prisons.

4 months in jail, about to be released

the reporter learned from the official website of the u.s. federal bureau of prisons that zhao changpeng's current location has been updated to the long beach residential reentry management (rrm) in central california. this means that he is undergoing preparation and assessment before returning to society. if everything goes well, he will return to society on september 29.

the so-called "residential reintegration administration", also known as the "halfway house", mainly acts as a local liaison between the federal bureau of prisons and the federal courts, the u.s. marshals service, state and local correctional institutions, and signs contracts with federal prisons to provide necessary help and support to prisoners who are about to be released to ensure that they can smoothly transition into social life. this may include providing a safe, organized, and supervised environment, providing employment training, psychological counseling, housing arrangements, financial management and other services.

u.s. federal bureau of prisons search results

in april this year, zhao changpeng was sentenced to four months in prison by a federal court in seattle for suspected money laundering in his cryptocurrency exchange. u.s. district judge richard jones told zhao changpeng: "you had the ability, financial resources and manpower to ensure compliance with every regulation, but you missed this opportunity." zhao changpeng's lawyer had requested a five-month suspended sentence, but in the end, he failed to escape jail.

during zhao changpeng's imprisonment, bitcoin fluctuated by more than $20,000. in april this year, when zhao changpeng was imprisoned, bitcoin reached $71,000, and then entered a period of sharp fluctuations, and once fell below $50,000. the latest price is $63,192.

bitcoin price trend (from april this year to now)

zhao changpeng's imprisonment

zhao changpeng was born in lianyungang, jiangsu province, and is a chinese-canadian entrepreneur. in 2017, zhao changpeng founded binance, which quickly became a global cryptocurrency exchange, providing trading platforms for more than 150 cryptocurrencies. at the end of 2021, against the backdrop of a surge in many cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, zhao changpeng was ranked the richest chinese with a net worth of us$94.1 billion (approximately rmb 634.8 billion). according to the forbes rankings, as of april 2024, zhao changpeng still has a fortune of more than us$30 billion.

according to a previous report by the securities times, zhao changpeng and binance pleaded guilty in november 2023 and were officially imprisoned in april 2024.

in april 2024, a u.s. district judge in seattle sentenced zhao changpeng to four months in prison for failing to implement an effective anti-money laundering framework, which allowed binance to become a viable platform for cybercrime and terrorist activities. the sentence was much lower than the three-year prison sentence recommended by prosecutors, but it was still not the result expected by zhao changpeng's defense lawyers, who appealed for probation.

as early as november 2023, officials from the u.s. department of justice stated that binance, which operates the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange binance.com, admitted to being involved in suspected money laundering, unlicensed remittances, and sanctions violations, and agreed to pay approximately us$4.3 billion in fines; at the same time, binance founder and ceo (ceo) zhao changpeng admitted that he had failed to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program and has resigned as ceo of binance.

as part of the plea agreement, binance agreed to forfeit $2.51 billion and pay a criminal fine of $1.81 billion, for a total of $4.32 billion. binance also agreed to retain an independent compliance monitor for three years and to correct and strengthen its anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance programs.

after accepting the penalty from the u.s. department of justice, the u.s. commodity futures trading commission (cftc) announced in december 2023 that it would impose a penalty of $2.85 billion on binance and zhao changpeng. together with the $4.32 billion settlement from the u.s. department of justice, binance and zhao changpeng have paid a total of $7.17 billion. despite the high fines, the future of binance and zhao changpeng remains uncertain.

in addition, the u.s. securities and exchange commission (sec) is still investigating binance's illegal activities. in june 2023, the sec filed 13 charges against binance entities and founder zhao changpeng, including operating an illegal trading platform in the united states; operating unregistered exchanges, broker-dealers and clearing agencies; misusing customer funds; unregistered securities issuance and sales, etc.

in response to the sec's allegations, binance said that the company actively cooperated with the sec's investigation and worked hard to respond to questions and address the regulator's concerns, hoping to reach a negotiation and resolve their investigation issues. from the continuous huge fines from the us department of justice to the cftc, binance is very likely to receive fines from the sec.