President Trump says he knows little to nothing about Binance founder Changpeng Zhao.
Trump pardoned Zhao last month, erasing the billionaire’s 2023 conviction for anti-money laundering violations.
In a 60 Minutes interview on Sunday, the president was questioned about his connection to the crypto mogul.
“I don’t know who he is. I know he got a four-month sentence or something like that, and I heard it was a Biden witch hunt.”
The pardon generated controversy because Binance has some intertwining business interests with World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance (DeFi) project co-founded by Trump and his sons.
World Liberty launched the stablecoin USD1, which is designed to keep a 1:1 peg to the US dollar, in March. In May, the firm’s co-founder and chief executive, Zach Witkoff, announced that the state-backed Abu Dhabi investment firm MGX tapped USD1 to close a $2 billion investment in Binance.
And days after Trump pardoned Zhao, Binance’s US platform rolled out trading services for the stablecoin, prompting US Senator Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) to accuse the White House of being a “full-time, 24/7 corruption machine.”
Trump maintained in his interview on Sunday that he knew nothing about Zhao other than he had heard the Binance founder “was a victim of weaponization by government.”
Zhao pleaded guilty in 2023 to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program at Binance, which enabled illicit activities, including drug trafficking and terrorism financing. The exchange settled with the Justice Department for $4.3 billion, and Zhao served four months in prison.
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