The New York Times reports:

In 2023, as Changpeng Zhao, the founder of the giant cryptocurrency exchange Binance, prepared to plead guilty to U.S. money-laundering violations, he fashioned a crash course for himself on clemency politics, reading books about business tycoons who had received pardons, including Marc Rich and Michael Milken.

Two years later, Mr. Zhao, a Chinese-born billionaire, is out of prison and mounting a pardon campaign of his own, backed by a sophisticated influence operation worthy of those high-profile predecessors.

Even at a time when many pardon seekers are paying hefty fees to lobbyists and lawyers with connections to President Trump, Mr. Zhao’s push stands out. The stakes could be enormous for the crypto industry, and Mr. Zhao and his team are deploying the full playbook of techniques that have helped deep-pocketed interests win preferential treatment from Mr. Trump.

Publicly, Mr. Zhao, in podcast interviews, has praised the president’s crypto policies. Behind the scenes, his team has hired lobbyists with ties to Mr. Trump’s orbit. Binance has also cultivated a business relationship with the Trumps, striking a deal that benefited the family’s own crypto firm, World Liberty Financial.

Mr. Zhao and Binance pleaded guilty to serious crimes in 2023, acknowledging that a flawed compliance system had allowed bad actors to move money on the platform. But the Trump administration appears to be considering the possibility of granting clemency.

The White House has received pardon applications from both Mr. Zhao and Binance, according to two people briefed on the applications, one of whom said the White House indicated that they were being reviewed. And in private conversations with other executives, advisers to Mr. Trump have floated the possibility of a pardon for Mr. Zhao and discussed the possible political fallout, according to two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive discussions.

Democrats are concerned that Mr. Trump will grant the pardons to reward Binance for steering business to World Liberty Financial, while paving the way for a more lucrative partnership.

“It provides a gold-plated path to additional deals,” Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said in an interview. He has requested information from the White House and World Liberty about the company’s dealings, including with Binance, and the pardon push, and he previously introduced legislation to require more disclosure around clemency.

On social media, Mr. Zhao has responded dismissively to claims that Binance’s dealings with World Liberty are related to his pardon push. In May, he acknowledged that a venture capital firm used a digital coin developed by World Liberty to invest in Binance, but argued that the currency deployed in such transactions is “mostly at the choice of the payer.”

Representatives for Binance and Mr. Zhao did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Pardoning Mr. Zhao and Binance would be a prime example of the sort of abuse that has plagued the nearly unfettered presidential clemency power, Mr. Blumenthal said. “It lets criminals off the hook to the personal profit of the president and his family and friends, and unleashes a convicted felon on a virtually unregulated crypto market.” [Continue reading…]