United States Prosecutors want Changpeng Zhao, aka CZ, to surrender his passports as they consider him a flight risk.
Things need to be more suitable for the former Binance CEO in his efforts to leave the United States, as authorities want to impose restrictions on his traveling.
The United States Attorney’s Office has requested a federal judge to impose more restrictions on Changpeng Zhao’s aka CZ’s travel plans as they believe that he might be a potential flight risk and will try to avoid facing trial in the country where he was accused of multiple charges ranging from breaking anti-money laundering laws (AML) to violation of the Bank Secrecy Act of the United States of America.
The government asked Changpeng Zhao to surrender his Canadian passport and submit all his current and expired passports and travel documents to his counsel. It is believed that CZ’s counsel will try to oppose this motion.
The motion to impose further restrictions on CZ’s travel plans was filed on February 23, 2024, by U.S. attorney Tessa Gorman, who made a filing in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
The motion was put forward in front of Magistrate Judge Brian Tsuchida, who requested that the judge approve this motion while specifying the conditions under which Changpeng Zhao would be allowed to remain free on bail.
The prosecutors have put forward conditions that Zhao has to remain within the jurisdiction of the United States border until his sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for April 30, 2024. He also has to give the prosecutors three days’ notice for any travel so that the government can get the chance to raise objections.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office requested that CZ hand over his Canadian passport and any other passports or travel documents, whether current or expired, to his legal representatives. CZ holds citizenship in the United Arab Emirates and had sought permission to travel there on the grounds of one of his children suffering from some medical situation.
CZ’s lawyers presented the judge with sealed documents regarding the current medical condition of his child at the time, which they used as the basis for asking permission from the authorities to let him visit his family in Dubai. The judge, however, denied his request and informed his lawyers that he considers the former Binance CEO a flight risk and cannot take the risk of allowing him to leave the country.
CZ is out on a bond of $175 million and is restricted to travel outside the United States. He has also submitted a separate $15 million amount in an escrow, which the state will confiscate if he violates his agreement to make himself present for the hearing at the date and time given by the court.
As per the court filing, CZ’s legal team has expressed objections to the motion as it was presented, indicating that they may seek alternative avenues for the former Binance CEO to travel outside the country. Notably, in November 2023, CZ entered a guilty plea to a felony charge related to failing to uphold an effective Anti-Money Laundering program at Binance.
Zhao resigned as CEO of Binance as part of a massive $4.3 billion agreement brokered between the cryptocurrency exchange and U.S. authorities.
On February 23, Judge Richard Jones approved the terms of the deal, which included a $1.8 billion fine and the forfeiture of $2.5 billion. Despite this resolution, CZ, Binance, and Binance.US remain embroiled in a civil lawsuit with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed in June 2023.
During the hearing on February 23, Judge Jones remarked, “This is a case where the company’s ethics were compromised by greed,” underscoring the gravity of the situation and the ethical lapses alleged in the proceedings.
Following CZ’s departure, Richard Teng, the former head of regional markets at Binance, assumed the CEO role. In a December 2023 interview with Cointelegraph, Teng characterized the exchange as “totally different” from its operations six years earlier.
Ever since the debacle of Binance getting fined by the United States Department of Justice, Richard Teng, and the Binance platform in general, have on numerous occasions, announced the new roadmap the company is following to ensure that they are in full compliance with the existing U.S laws and ensure that these the lapses which were made under the previous management would not be repeated in the future.
