Last June, Binance seemed dead in the water. The SEC had just filed an explosive lawsuit against the leading crypto exchange, alleging the same kind of misconduct that brought down FTX and describing founder and CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao's empire as a "web of deception." The CFTC had brought its own civil complaint just a few months earlier, Binance's native token BNB was plummeting, and everyone was certain that the DOJ would file criminal charges any day.
Nobody—including, I'm guessing, CZ himself—could have anticipated where we would be today. The DOJ did end up filing charges, although not until November, leading to a watered-down settlement that omitted any allegations of misappropriation or fraud. And while the SEC is still pursuing its case, CZ got off with what amounts to a slap on the wrist—a four-month stint at a low-security prison near Santa Barbara, where inmates work on horse farms and spend much of the day outside, according to one prison consultant. He started his sentence in early June, as his nemesis, Sam Bankman-Fried, remains at one of the worst detention centers in the country, planning the appeal of his 25-year sentence.
