Former CEO of Binance Zhao begs the court to let him depart the US before sentence

 Former CEO of Binance Zhao begs the court to let him depart the US before sentence

Zhao, a Canadian and United Arab Emirates citizen, resigned from his position as CEO of Binance on Tuesday after the international cryptocurrency exchange's guilty plea for neglecting to keep up a robust anti-money laundering policy.

Because Zhao is a criminal with substantial assets and there is no extradition treaty between the UAE and the US, the government said that it may not be able to get his return if he decides not to return to the US for sentence. is a multibillionaire. 

Attorneys for Changpeng Zhao, the former CEO of Binance, are pleading with a US court to deny a Justice Department request to prevent Zhao from leaving the United Arab Emirates until he has finished an anti-money laundering probe. If the criteria are broken, there is no penalty.

Zhao's attorneys requested in a brief on Thursday that U.S. District court Richard Jones in Seattle refrain from reversing the bail terms that a magistrate court had imposed on Tuesday, allowing Zhao to go abroad until his sentencing.

Zhao, a Canadian and United Arab Emirates citizen, resigned from his position as CEO of Binance on Tuesday after the international cryptocurrency exchange's guilty plea for neglecting to keep up a robust anti-money laundering policy.

According to US investigators, Binance violated US anti-money laundering and sanctions rules and neglected to disclose over 100,000 suspicious transactions with entities deemed terrorist groups by the US, including as Hamas, al Qaeda, and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

As part of a plea agreement, the corporation agreed to pay more than $4.3 billion. Zhao faces up to 18 months in jail, according to prosecutors' petition on Wednesday, despite having agreed to pay a $150 million punishment to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The Justice Department has requested that Jones reverse U.S. Magistrate Judge Brian Tsuchida's ruling by Monday in order to enable Zhao to return to the United Arab Emirates before to his sentencing on February 23. Zhao was bailed out of $175 million. had consented to his release on a bond for bail.

Because Zhao is a criminal with substantial assets and there is no extradition treaty between the UAE and the US, the government said that it may not be able to get his return if he decides not to return to the US for sentence. is a multibillionaire. 

However, Zhao's attorneys said that by accepting a "substantial" bail package and traveling willingly to the US to take ownership of his acts, the former CEO had shown he was not a flight risk.

Zhao could take care of his girlfriend and three children in the United Arab Emirates, according to defense attorneys, and be ready for punishment if he was allowed to return.

In a succinct statement released on Friday, the Justice Department said that it was "extraordinary" that it had decided to recommend Zhao be free prior to sentence on Tuesday's hearing and that the only reason it took this action was because it thought limiting her travel would stop her from escaping. "Managed" risk is possible.

Lawyers for the Justice Department said, "Most of the time, a wealthy defendant who has entered a guilty plea faces the possibility of going to jail because they live in a nation that does not extradite its nationals to the United States. Indeed, he will be placed under arrest."

(Editing by Alexia Garmfalvi, Marguerita Choy, and Daniel Wallis; reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston)