Teresa Goody Guillén, Changpeng Zhao’s personal lawyer, denied pay-to-play allegations surrounding the Binance founder’s presidential pardon.
Summary
- CZ’s lawyer says the pay-to-play allegations are baseless and fueled by unverified reports.
- Guillén emphasizes that CZ only faced legal charges, without any fraud, victims or money laundering.
- The lawyer rejects claims linking CZ’s pardon to Trump-related crypto ventures.
In a podcast interview Along with Anthony Pompliano, Guillén addressed criticism that linked the pardon to Binance’s dealings with World Liberty Financial and other Trump-linked entities.
Guillén explained that Zhao, also known as CZ, was accused of Binance’s failure to implement anti-money laundering compliance programs, not money laundering itself.
“This is a breach of regulations. There is no money laundering involved,” she said. The lawyer argued that CZ should never have been prosecuted.
Reports based on unverified sources, Binance founder’s lawyer claims
Guillén described the corruption allegations as “an accumulation of a lot of false statements, incorrect statements and sometimes assumptions.”
She challenged reporters to verify their sources, noting that media outlets quote other media reports without solid evidence.
“You see a media report quoting a media report, quoting a media report, and there’s no basis for it other than sources close to someone, which is kind of code for not a strong source,” Guillén said.
The attorney disputed claims that World Liberty Financial is “Trump’s company,” saying she has seen no evidence to support that characterization.
Guillén addressed allegations about USD-1, the stablecoin that World Liberty Financial issued on the Binance chain.
“Just because I list something on Craigslist does not mean that I therefore have a special relationship with the former CEO of Craigslist,” she said.
She explained that USD-1 exists on multiple chains, and that other exchanges own it.
Other crypto managers received pardons
Guillén pointed out that Arthur Hayes, former CEO of BitMEX, also received a pardon, along with the BitMEX company itself. Ross Ulbricht, founder of Silk Road, was also pardoned.
“We have pardoned people, companies and legal people, including from the beginning of our country to England,” she said.
The attorney noted that pardons historically included both criminal and civil offenses for individuals and entities.
When asked about secret Bitcoin payments to Trump, Guillén said, “I know CZ. I just know that would never happen. That’s just not who he is.”
Elizabeth Warren made false claims about CZ
Senator Elizabeth Warren posted on social media that CZ was convicted of crimes for which he was not convicted. Warren also alleged that CZ engaged in pay-to-play to obtain his pardon.
“You can’t just say things about people and claim that they violated different crimes or committed different crimes that they didn’t commit,” Guillén said.
CZ will not return to Binance, which continues to face restrictions from DOJ, CFTC, FinCEN, and OFAC. The exchange has Treasury Department oversight that ensures compliance with U.S. law despite the ban on serving U.S. clients.
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