US prosecutors are pushing for former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao to give up his passports and remain in the country for the duration of his trial.
According to a court filing, prosecutors want Zhao to notify the courts at least three days in advance before doing any traveling within the US.
They are also requesting that Zhao not change his residence and surrender his Canadian passport to a third-party custodian employed and supervised by the court. The prosecutors want the third-party custodian to accompany the former Binance CEO when he travels anywhere that requires identification documents.
Additionally, they want Zhao to surrender all of his passports, including the ones that have already expired, along with his travel documents.
Lastly, they want the ex-Binance chief to be barred from getting a new passport or travel document from any foreign country without the court’s approval.
Zhao, a Canadian national and a resident of the United Arab Emirates, is currently in the US, free on a $175 million bond. Due to his level of wealth, the former CEO was considered a flight risk by U.S. District Judge Richard Jones.
When Zhao pleaded guilty in November, he agreed to step down from Binance’s CEO post, in addition to paying a $50 million fine. Binance agreed to pay $4.3 billion in restitution fees.
In a CNBC interview, Rostin Behnam, Chair of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) says that he expects Zhao to spend time in prison after pleading guilty to failing to keep adequate anti-money laundering protocols for Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange.
“We have over $4 billion in fines on the criminal and civil side. The CFTC, Justice [Department] and the Treasury. Obviously, there’s the criminal side so he will be going to jail.
The sentencing will be taking a bit of time. So I think law enforcement, both criminal and civil, we work together [and] we feel like we got a bad actor here and it’s sending a clear message.”
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