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– The Trump administration is reportedly leaning toward pardoning Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao, who pleaded guilty to money laundering in 2024 and served four months in a correctional facility.

According to New York Post columnist and Fox contributor Charles Gasparino, sources close to Zhao said Trump’s advisers believe the case against CZ is relatively weak and clearly not worthy of felony charges and incarceration.

Trump … is leaning toward a pardon, which could pave the way for CZ’s return to the cryptocurrency exchange, as he remains Binance’s largest shareholder, he said, citing people close to Zhao.

Under the Trump administration, the White House has taken a more favorable stance toward cryptocurrencies, with regulators ending long-running legal prosecutions, advancing bills aimed at regulating the industry, and pardoning three BitMEX founders, including Arthur Hayes, and Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht.

Zhao responded to Gasparino on Friday, but did not specify whether he had information about the possible pardons. In May, the former Binance chief confirmed on the Farokh Radio podcast that he had formally submitted a request for clemency after media reports said he wanted a pardon.

Thank you, Charles. That’s great news if it’s true. Just a small correction: there was no fraud charge. I believe they (DOJ under the last administration) looked hard for me, but didn’t find me. I pleaded guilty to a single violation of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), Zhao said.

I believe I am the only person in U.S. history to be sentenced to prison for a single violation of the BSA, with no other charges and no prior criminal record. Thank you for reporting, he added in another statement.

Binance, Zhao and the White House have yet to comment on the request.

Zhao pleaded guilty to money laundering in November 2023 as part of Binance’s deal with U.S. authorities in which the exchange paid a $4.3 billion fine and Zhao was fined $50 million.

He was also forced to step down as CEO, served four months in jail and was banned from working at Binance as part of a plea agreement.

Gasparino said that a final decision is expected soon. However, a potential obstacle to the pardon could be concerns from “some in the White House” about “the public perception of the pardon given the president’s business interests in cryptocurrency, so the situation obviously remains fluid.

President Donald Trump and his family’s ties to the cryptocurrency sector through projects such as his memecoin and decentralized financial protocol World Liberty Financial have already raised questions about conflicts of interest.

Don’t forget that these cases often drag on longer than expected, and this president has more urgent tasks, such as releasing Israeli hostages, ending the conflict in Gaza, and the situation in Ukraine, in addition to tariffs and the trade agreement with China. “Meanwhile, Gasparino, citing Eleanor Terrett, one of the hosts of the Crypto In America podcast and a former FOX Business reporter, noted that top cryptocurrency executives, some with White House ties, believe the CZ charges were the result of an overreaction by lawmakers following the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX.

SBF, who once headed the $32 billion FTX exchange, is serving a 25-year sentence on seven criminal charges related to the downfall of FTX and Alameda Research in November 2022.