FinWikiPublic-source finance field guide
日EN

Changpeng Zhao / Binance founder-handoff case

ConfidenceHighUpdated2026-07-29Review by2027-01-29Sources5Machine-translatedOriginal (JA)

On this page

Scope

This page records the public US enforcement and leadership-transition sequence involving Binance and founder Changpeng Zhao (“CZ”). It distinguishes the criminal and Treasury resolutions from the separate SEC civil case, and it does not infer undisclosed ownership, informal control, or private governance arrangements.

The entry sits under business INDEX. Read it with Brian Armstrong / Coinbase public-company case, founder / executive transition matrix, and US crypto licensing multi-layer system.

Verified timeline

Sources for the following table: the DOJ case page for United States v. Changpeng Zhao, the DOJ resolution announcement, the SEC dismissal release, and the DOJ clemency register.

Date Event Legal or evidentiary status
2023-11-21 CZ pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by causing Binance to fail to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering program Criminal guilty plea; not a plea under 18 U.S.C. § 1956
2023-11-21 Binance pleaded guilty to charges involving the Bank Secrecy Act, failure to register as a money-transmitting business, and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act Part of a coordinated resolution exceeding $4 billion
2023-11-21 CZ resigned as Binance CEO Publicly announced leadership consequence of the resolution
2024-04-30 CZ was sentenced to four months in prison and a $50 million fine Sentence reported on DOJ’s case record
2025-05-29 SEC voluntarily dismissed its separate civil action against Binance entities and CZ Dismissed with prejudice by joint stipulation; separate from the 2023 criminal and Treasury resolutions
2025-10-21 CZ received a full and unconditional presidential pardon Recorded in the DOJ clemency register; the historical plea and sentence remain part of the public chronology

Coordinated 2023 resolution

The 2023 actions involved several authorities and overlapping payment or credit mechanics. Amounts should therefore be taken from each authority’s own release rather than added together as independent totals.

Sources for the following table: the DOJ resolution announcement and the US Treasury resolution announcement.

Authority Public action Recorded consequence
DOJ Criminal resolutions with Binance and CZ Binance’s resolution exceeded $4 billion; CZ agreed to a $50 million criminal fine and resigned as CEO
FinCEN Civil settlement concerning Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money-laundering failures Treasury announced a $3.4 billion penalty with crediting and payment terms described in the settlement
OFAC Civil settlement concerning apparent sanctions violations Treasury announced a $968 million settlement with crediting and payment terms described in the settlement
Compliance oversight Remediation, reporting, lookback, and monitor requirements The exact term and scope differ by agreement and authority

The central governance fact is limited but important: a founder-CEO resigned while the operating group continued under a successor. The public resolution does not by itself prove what ownership percentage CZ held later or what informal influence he retained.

Separate SEC civil case

The SEC’s 2023 civil case was not part of CZ’s criminal guilty plea. On 2025-05-29, the SEC announced that it had filed a joint stipulation dismissing the civil action against Binance Holdings Limited, BAM Trading Services Inc., BAM Management US Holdings Inc., and CZ with prejudice.

Sources for the following comparison table: the SEC’s 2025 litigation release and the DOJ’s 2023 resolution release.

Matter Nature Outcome captured here
DOJ criminal case against CZ Bank Secrecy Act criminal charge Guilty plea, sentence, fine, later presidential pardon
DOJ criminal case against Binance Criminal charges involving BSA, money-transmission registration, and sanctions law Guilty plea and corporate resolution
Treasury actions FinCEN and OFAC civil enforcement Settlements, penalties, and compliance undertakings
SEC v. Binance et al. Separate securities-law civil action Dismissed with prejudice in 2025

Dismissal of the SEC case did not cancel the distinct DOJ and Treasury resolutions. Likewise, the criminal resolution did not decide the merits of the later-dismissed SEC claims.

Leadership handoff: what is documented

Sources for the following table: the DOJ resolution announcement and Binance’s public announcement naming Richard Teng as CEO, linked from its official news archive.

Question Publicly documented answer Boundary
Did CZ leave the CEO role? Yes, he resigned in November 2023 This does not establish a complete separation from every economic interest
Was a successor named? Binance publicly named Richard Teng as CEO Binance is privately held, so public governance disclosure is less extensive than a listed issuer’s
Did Binance cease operating? No; the resolutions were structured around continued operation subject to payment and compliance obligations Continued operation does not imply that every jurisdiction permits every Binance service
Did the 2025 pardon reverse the CEO transition? No such reversal is established by the cited public records Do not infer a role change without a dated company announcement

Analytical lessons

  • Separate criminal, civil, sanctions, and securities-law matters before summarizing an enforcement event.
  • Do not combine penalty headlines without checking credits, forfeiture, and overlap across agreements.
  • A founder resignation and a transfer of ownership are different events.
  • Privately held exchanges provide less standardized governance evidence than SEC-reporting issuers.
  • A later dismissal or pardon must be added to the chronology without rewriting the status of distinct proceedings.

Reusable review checklist

Sources for the following checklist table: DOJ’s CZ case page, Treasury’s resolution release, and the SEC’s dismissal release.

Review question Required evidence
Which statute and charge applied to the individual? Plea agreement, information, judgment, or DOJ case page
Which charges applied to the company? Corporate plea and DOJ resolution documents
Are penalty amounts additive? Settlement crediting and payment provisions from each authority
Was the founder removed as officer, director, owner, or all three? Agreement text and dated corporate governance disclosure
Is a related civil action pending, adjudicated, settled, or dismissed? Current docket or regulator litigation release
Did later clemency occur? Official DOJ clemency register and warrant

Sources

#business#case-study#binance#cz#doj#settlement

Discovery

Keep reading

Related

Read next

Links here