I'm not getting why Zhao would be paying out $4.3 billion if he had to do any time. Steven Cohen paid out $1.8 billion, pleaded guilty to insider trading, was forced to turn hedge fund into family owned fund but did not serve any time. The other factor is that Zhao could have just stayed out of the US and enjoyed his freedom. Jho Low, mastermind of the 1MDB scandal, is still out and about in China somewhere.
US government flexing its muscles. Future looks quite bleak when US/Israel regimes dictate who has the right kind of terrorism which they allow.
Once he goes UAE, he won't do any of the time. He's already paid all the fines and penalties and in his mind, he's already been punished and jail sentence is not something he's prepared to accept. His ego won't allow it. That's how rich people think. They think because they have money, they are above the law or at least they get to decide what kind of punishment they are willing to be subject to. Once he's out of America, he's gone. The Justice Department knows that but for some very strange reason is willing to accept that eventual reality.
Maybe DOJ believe bail money in their pocket is better than spending money on jailing another inmate.
Long arms of DOJ & SEC: https://www.reuters.com/world/europ...ition-cryptocurrency-king-do-kwon-2023-11-24/ The only safe place fo CZ to hide is China.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao ordered by judge to stay in U.S. ahead of prison sentencing https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/27/bin...zhao-has-to-stay-in-us-after-guilty-plea.html
And the related lawsuits are starting. You would have thought at this point that celebrities would be bright enough to stop promoting shady crypto products -- unless they really enjoy legal trouble. Cristiano Ronaldo faces $1bn lawsuit over Binance ads https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-67566602 Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo is facing a class action lawsuit in the US over his promotion of Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. The plaintiffs claim his endorsement led them to make loss-making investments. They are seeking damages of "a sum exceeding" $1bn (£790m). The BBC has contacted both Ronaldo's management company and Binance for comment. In November 2022, Binance announced its first "CR7" collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in partnership with Ronaldo, which the footballer said would reward fans "for all the years of support". NFTs are virtual assets that can be bought and sold, but which have no real-world form of their own - in other words they only exist digitally. Generally, they are used to mark ownership of something, such as a picture or video online. "CR7" refers to Ronaldo's initials and shirt number, and is used as branding in a range of products, from footwear to fragrances, that have helped make him one of the wealthiest athletes on earth. In a social media video announcing the partnership, Ronaldo told would-be investors "we are going to change the NFT game and take football to the next level". The cheapest NFT from the collection was priced at $77 when it went on sale in November 2022 - but one year later, it was priced at about $1. The claimants allege that Ronaldo's promotion of Binance led to a "500% increase in searches" for the crypto exchange, which is registered in the Cayman Islands. They also say it led people to use the firm to invest in what they call "unregistered securities" - such as Binance's BNB cryptocurrency. According to the US Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC), these assets can be considered securities - and so celebrities endorsing them must follow US law. SEC chair Gary Gensler previously said celebrities must "disclose to the public from whom and how much you are getting paid to promote investment in securities". "When celebrities endorse investment opportunities, including crypto-asset securities, investors should be careful to research if the investments are right for them, and they should know why celebrities are making those endorsements," he said. The claimants allege Ronaldo should have disclosed how much he was being paid, but did not. Nigel Green, boss of consultancy firm DeVere Group, said the problems at the heart of the case went wider than just one footballer. "It is crucial to recognise that blaming Ronaldo alone oversimplifies a complex issue," he said. "Instead, attention should also be directed towards global regulators who have been slow to establish clear guidelines for this evolving financial landscape." Future plans Ronaldo and Binance appear to have plans to work together again in the future, with a recent social media post from the footballer saying they are "cooking something up". Neither have responded to the BBC's requests for comment. The class action suit was filed a week after the US Justice Department told the firm to pay $4.3bn (£3.4bn) in penalties and forfeitures. Major League Baseball, Formula 1 and Mercedes-Benz are all also facing class action lawsuits filed on the same day over their promotion of failed crypto-exchange FTX. It accused Binance of helping users bypass sanctions around the world, and of making it easy for criminals and terrorists to move money. Its chief executive, Changpeng Zhao, resigned from the firm, having admitted money-laundering violations.
That is for the company to stay in business. They call it the cost of doing business. Now here is a ponderable: Let's say YOU are a billionaire, and one country (where you don't intend to live at all) wants you to spend a few months in prison. Would you do it? I think they offered him a deal what he couldn't refuse. They probably told him to take the deal and pay the business and personal fines (and give the customers' data up), rather than being put on the terrorist list and being hunted for the next few decades, while the company goes out of business. I wonder if they give him immunity from further charges. If not, he may stay for a while in the USA.