Biden DOJ Came After Me Six Months After I Took Down SBF, Binance Founder Says

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao claims the Department of Justice under former President Joe Biden came after him six months after FTX collapsed, calling the timing “very coincidental” as regulators lost their biggest political donor.

The Timing Was Coincidental

Zhao told the PBD Podcast that FTX collapsed at the end of 2022 after he announced Binance (CRYPTO: BNB) would sell its FTT tokens. 

By early 2023, his legal team said the DOJ had a case and wanted to get to a deal.

“The timing is coincidental,” Zhao said. “We got a lot more scrutiny from the US SEC and other US agencies. Of course, you just took away one of their biggest donors. He was the biggest guy giving money to them. You just took that money away,” he added.

Sam Bankman-Fried gave over $100 million in stolen FTX customer funds to political donations ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, according to federal prosecutors. 

Zhao said he never received any requests for political donations because he’s a Canadian citizen living outside the US.

DOJ Was Extremely Aggressive

Zhao’s legal team said they’d never seen a case where the government took a Banking Secrecy Act violation this aggressively. 

The DOJ alleged Binance facilitated $8 billion in illicit transactions, though that represents a fraction of the $125 trillion in total lifetime trading volume on the platform.

“They were extremely aggressive,” Zhao said. “The comment I heard most from my lawyers was they’d never seen a case where a government takes a BSA violation this aggressively,” he added.

Binance ultimately paid $4.3 billion in fines, Zhao paid $50 million, and he served four months in federal prison. Zhao self-surrendered on May 30, 2024, and was released on September 27, 2024.

Trump Pardon Changed Everything

President Trump gave Zhao a full unconditional pardon on October 21, 2025, roughly a year after his release. 

The pardon clears Zhao’s criminal record and restores his ability to obtain financial licenses globally.

“Without a pardon, I’m labeled as a felon,” he said. “My ability to be a shareholder of many of our businesses is significantly impacted. With a pardon, we get our name cleared,” CZ added.

Zhao said the US went from one of the worst places to live during the Biden administration to one of the best countries for crypto today. 

He remains the largest shareholder of Binance but no longer runs the company as part of his plea deal.

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