- He promised his multibillion-dollar stake as security to travel back to the UAE
- After pleading guilty to money laundering, he was released on $175M bail
- The billionaire’s whereabouts in the US are unknown
New information from a court of law reveals that a judge rejected Changpeng Zhao’s request to leave the US for the UAE in January although the latter offered his whole equity in Binance’s US arm as a guarantee that he would come back, Cointelegraph wrote.
Ex-Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao promised his multibillion-dollar stake as security so he could travel back to the United Arab Emirates, where his family is. On December 22, CZ’s lawyers sent Judge Richard Jones a letter containing their client’s intent. According to the letter, his equity in Binance.US was worth $4.5 billion based on an investment round in 2022.
Zhao wanted to travel to the UAE for up to a month at the beginning of January to see a relative or a friend in the hospital, but federal prosecutors rejected the request.
He is out on $175M bail
After pleading guilty to money laundering on November 21, CZ was released on bail of $175 million. He faces up to a year and a half in prison and has consented not to appeal any sentence shorter than that.
Parts of the letter remain sealed. Reference is made to the name of the person in the hospital and the reason they are there - surgery - along with other private and sensitive data.
A flight risk
As part of Zhao’s bond terms, Judge Jones banned him from traveling to the UAE as his “enormous wealth and property abroad” made him a flight risk despite his lawyers’ claims to the contrary.
The former boss of the world’s biggest crypto exchange was ordered to stay in the US until his trial, which is scheduled on Feb. 23. The billionaire’s whereabouts in the US are unknown. His last X post was in early December last year.
Zhao reached a $4.3 billion settlement with various US regulators and admitted to having violating the Bank Secrecy Act. He also stepped down as CEO of Binance.
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