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by Mike Caswell

A Seattle judge has determined that Canadian Changpeng Zhao is a flight risk, and has denied Mr. Zhao permission to leave the United States while he awaits sentencing for charges arising from violations of the Bank Secrecy Act. Prosecutors claimed that Mr. Zhao facilitated illegal money transfers, allowing $898-million in trades between users in the U.S. and Iran. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.) The activity occurred on the Binance cryptocurrency exchange that Mr. Zhao ran.

Mr. Zhao pleaded guilty on Nov. 21, 2023, as part of a settlement that will see Binance pay $4.3-billion. After pleading guilty, Mr. Zhao sought permission to leave the U.S. until his sentencing. He said that he intended to travel to the United Arab Emirates. The magistrate judge that accepted Mr. Zhao's guilty plea initially agreed, but then granted prosecutors some time to fully argue the matter before a district court judge.

That judge decided the matter in favour of prosecutors, issuing a ruling late on Thursday, Dec. 7. The judge found that Mr. Zhao had not established, with "clear and convincing evidence," that he would not flee. In making the finding, the judge noted that Mr. Zhao had considerable resources at his disposal, with prosecutors citing wealth of as much as $1-billion. The judge found it "equally concerning" that most of Mr. Zhao's "enormous wealth and property" was held overseas.

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