Binance founder’s sentencing hearing

The rest of us are asked to remain sitting while he leaves. Unclear if there will be a press conference after.

The defense is requesting that Zhao be designated to SeaTac, at a date to be specified by the court. Zhao promises before the court that he will show up at the time, which is not yet decided.

We are taking a 10 minute break, but there are a few more matters to be ironed out.

But Jones isn’t going to take the government’s sentencing recommendation. He hasn’t yet announced the exact sentence.

He’s leaning forward, listening intently, and occasionally nodding.

However, the scale of the offense is remarkable, and Jones wants to consider deterring future crime. The letters sent to the court on Zhao’s behalf will play a significant role in the sentencing.

The court recognizes that he came voluntarily to the US, has not previously broken laws, and that he took “extraordinary steps and significant steps” in cooperation with law enforcement. But the nature of the events was “aggravating.”

After his brief remarks, he has now stepped down.

Zhao says he wants to create a platform for online education for underprivileged kids. “I find this new work extremely rewarding and meaningful.”

Addressing the courtoom before being sentenced, the Binance begins by saying, “I’m sorry,” and says he wants to take responsibility for his “mistakes.” He notes that Binance did implement a KYC/AML program, and that it is cooperating with the US government.

“In my mind, I wanted to do everything possible before stepping down as CEO.”

The judge is annoyed by this.

Judge Richard Jones is back on the bench, and we are about to hear from Changpeng Zhao himself.

Gotta say, the government has not exactly covered itself in glory here. If Zhao’s statement is convincing, he might not serve time at all.

Zhao will speak when we return.

And because he’s so well-known as a wealthy man, and because Binance is cooperating with the government, there’s a real risk in being in certain facilities, Burck says.

Will the sentence deter other people? Government said Zhao should be punished or else there will be a perverse incentive to do what Zhao did. Burck is arguing that prison time will tell people not to come to the US and accept responsibility for their crimes.

If the government wanted to put Zhao in jail for serious time, why did they let him plead to something with such a short sentence? It makes me wonder about the matter under seal we keep hearing about.

He and Burck are having a back-and-forth now about the appropriateness of jail time as recommended by the probation department.

We know from CZ’s messages quoted in multiple court cases that avoiding anti-money laundering controls was not exactly a mistake but a strategy. The language cuts against the idea that CZ is taking “full responsibility” for his misconduct...

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He’s making a strong case that the government’s request for three years is way out of line. CZ looks less unhappy listening to his lawyers speak; he’s listening intently, with his eyebrows up.

“When we read the government’s submission... it read to us like the kind of submission a desperate defendant would write” because it says, essentially, to ignore the sentencing guidelines.

Some of the filings have been sealed. Wonder what this is!!