With a net worth of $36.2 billion, Changpeng Zhao is the richest person serving time in the founder and former CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, has started serving time in a federal prison in California, United States.
The entrepreneur, one of the most recognized figures in the crypto sector, was sentenced to four months of detention in April this year for violating anti-money laundering laws in the country.Zhao will be staying at Lompoc II, a low-security prison in the state of California.
He is the wealthiest person to serve time in a federal prison in the US. According to Bloomberg’s billionaires ranking, the former CEO has a net worth of $36.2 billion, placing him at the 44th position in the list of the world’s wealthiest individuals.
Prison consultant Sam Mangel told Bloomberg that inmates at the prison work on horse farms and spend most of the day outside.
“He will be perfectly fine at Lompoc. There are many experiences that other inmates will be eager to hear, especially about cryptocurrencies,” he said.
Lompoc prison has 2,160 inmates in the camp and main facilities, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the US agency responsible for all federal prisons.
GuiltyAt the end of last year, Binance and Zhao pleaded guilty to violating sanctions and anti-money laundering laws in the US.
The failure allowed hackers and terrorist groups, including Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, to trade Bitcoin (BTC) on the exchange.
To settle the case, both parties reached an agreement with the US government. Binance paid a fine of $4.3 billion and agreed to be supervised by authorities, as well as to establish a global headquarters. Zhao paid $50 million and stepped down as CEO.(With Bloomberg)
