Binance Founder Seeks Presidential Pardon from Trump Amid Business Discussions

The founder and former CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), confirmed in the podcast [Farohk Radio](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-13/trump-crypto-venture-has-talked-to-binance-about-doing-business) that he has submitted a pardon request to U.S. President Donald Trump.

This occurred two weeks ago.

In September 2024, CZ [was released](https://forklog.com/news/osnovatel-binance-vyshel-na-svobodu) after serving a four-month sentence for money laundering and other illegal activities. As part of a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice, he agreed to [pay a fine of $50 million](https://forklog.com/news/reuters-chanpen-chzhao-zaplatit-50-mln-v-ramkah-sdelki-s-minyustom-ssha) and step down from his position as the exchange’s CEO.

In March, articles from Bloomberg and [WSJ](https://forklog.com/news/wsj-semya-donalda-trampa-obsudila-vozmozhnost-pokupki-doli-v-binance-us) claimed that Zhao is seeking a pardon amid discussions of business deals with the Trump family. CZ [denied](https://x.com/cz_binance/status/1900194883891322948) the journalists’ reports at that time.

“Sorry to disappoint. The WSJ article misrepresented the facts,” Zhao wrote.

However, he admitted that the coverage from news outlets prompted him and his lawyers to request clemency.

“If they’re writing this article, we could just officially submit a request,” Zhao remarked.

He emphasized that he made this decision only after the articles were published.

CZ also stated that he is not interested in returning to his former role as CEO of Binance. Before his prison release, the exchange [indefinitely banned](https://forklog.com/news/binance-otstranila-chanpena-chzhao-ot-upravleniya) him from management. Nonetheless, the current CEO of the platform, [Richard Teng](https://forklog.com/news/kto-takoj-novyj-ceo-binance-richard-teng), noted that Zhao remains the largest shareholder.

It’s worth mentioning that in March, Trump [pardoned](https://forklog.com/news/smi-donald-tramp-pomiloval-soosnovatelej-bitmex) three co-founders of BitMEX — Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed.