必利勁
>No matter how desperate Changpeng Zhao wants to go to Dubai, the federal judge of the United States court isn’t willing to grant his request just yet.
The situation surrounding the former CEO of Binance didn’t improve as the motion his lawyers filed for allowing him to return to Dubai temporarily to visit his child, who was suffering from some medical issue, was denied by a U.S. federal judge.
The lawyers also included in the motion sealed medical information about CZ’s child in Dubai. Still, the judge didn’t budge from his stance of not allowing Zhao to leave before he faces his sentencing hearing.
In a hearing on December 29 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle, Judge Richard Jones rejected Changpeng Zhao’s request to travel outside the country.
The details behind the second travel request were not disclosed to the public as the court sealed them. However, CZ’s legal team indicated that it may pertain to medical information regarding Zhao’s child.
On December 7, Judge Jones had previously directed Zhao to stay in the United States, expressing concerns about the possibility of him fleeing if allowed to travel to his residence in Dubai, where his family resides.
CZ might be facing up to 18 months in prison time after he pleaded guilty to one felony count as part of a deal that saw him vacate his position as the CEO of Binance and the crypto exchange agreeing to pay $4.3 billion in fines to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
The sentence is expected to be announced in February, and it is doubtful that CZ will be allowed to leave the country before that, as he is considered a significant flight risk.
CZ has reiterated on different occasions that he doesn’t plan to flee the due process and will make himself available for his hearing at the given time.
He even signed the affidavit in which he was allowed to remain free on a $175 million bond, but failing to appear in front of the court at a given date will result in him forfeiting $15 million held in a separate escrow account.
It is also pertinent to mention the looming threat of getting at least ten years in prison and paying $250,000 in fines if he violated the terms of his agreement.
This is not the only example where an executive of a significant crypto firm has been allowed to avoid jail time until their sentence is commuted and they are proven guilty of the charges filed against them.
Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of Celsius, who faced charges in July for purportedly deceiving and defrauding users, was released on a $40 million bond.
Similarly, Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, was initially permitted to stay at his parent’s residence in California after being extradited to the U.S. in 2022. However, a judge later directed his detention, citing accusations of witness intimidation.
The crypto world received a considerable shock when CZ pleaded guilty to the charges against him as he had on numerous occasions in the past remained steadfast in following the regulations to the letter.
Not to mention, his image at one time of being a responsible and upright executive of the largest crypto exchange in the world in terms of volume traded was tarnished completely, and it gave a lesson to the rest of the crypto community that all is not what it looks like in the crypto world.
Whether or not his claim for leaving the U.S. is genuine cannot be determined at this point because the medical documents he has submitted are sealed, which means that he wants it to be private for now.
