Binance's Trump Pardon: Corruption or Just Business?

A Trump Pardon for CZ? More Like a Middle Finger to Justice

So, Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, known as "CZ." Big freakin' deal, right? Except, as former U.S. Pardon Attorney Elizabeth Oyer put it, this ain't justice; it's straight-up corruption. And honestly, at this point, are we even surprised?

The whole thing stinks worse than week-old gym socks. CZ pleaded guilty in 2023 to letting Binance become a money-laundering playground—we're talking Al-Qaeda, Hamas, ISIS kinda bad. Served a whopping four months. Then bam! Pardoned.

Oyer's dropping truth bombs, saying CZ "wasn’t close to meeting Justice Department guidelines for a pardon." She claims the financial shenanigans around this pardon are unprecedented. What financial shenanigans, you ask? Oh, just Binance donating software to a Trump-linked crypto venture, World Liberty Financial (WLF), helping them launch some shady cryptocurrency.

Then, an Emirati fund dumps two billion into Binance – paid in WLF crypto, no less. Suddenly, this nobody crypto is a "major player." A source even said, "it wasn’t strange. It was nuts." Nuts alright.

The Swamp Just Keeps Getting Swampier

Trump's defense? "I don’t know him. I don’t believe I've ever met him." Right. And I’m the Queen of England. He even had the gall to dismiss a reporter asking questions as "fake news" because they "don’t know much about crypto." Give me a break.

And ofcourse, the White House is denying any conflicts of interest. Sure thing. Attorneys for CZ and Binance are also playing dumb, claiming they just gave WLF "freely available" software. Okay, so you're telling me a multi-billion dollar company is just handing out free tech to save another company some time? Yeah, that makes sense.

It's like watching a magician pull a rabbit out of a hat, except the rabbit is a wad of cash and the hat is the Oval Office.

Beyond the CZ Circus: A Broken System

But this isn't just about CZ. Oyer says she got fired after refusing to restore gun rights to Mel Gibson (who, let's be real, probably doesn't need more weapons). She testified that armed U.S. Marshals were sent to her house to deliver a warning letter. Talk about intimidation tactics.

She’s out there saying, "I will not be bullied into concealing the ongoing corruption and abuse of power at the Department of Justice." You gotta respect that kind of defiance. But at what cost?

Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig calls this "a private form of corruption going on inside of the executive branch." A "private form of corruption" – that's a fancy way of saying they're selling off pieces of our democracy like it's a freakin' yard sale. Are we really that far gone?

And CZ, ever the opportunist, says if Binance gets any of that $4.3 billion fine back, he'll invest it in America "to show our appreciation." How touching. It's like robbing someone blind and then offering to buy them a used car.

The Crypto Grift Never Ends

Oh, and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) found that Binance facilitated at least $408 million worth of tether (USDT) transactions for organized crime groups after CZ’s guilty plea. So, basically, they were still profiting from shady dealings while supposedly under inspection. What a joke.

They also found scam funds being sent to accounts on Justin Sun’s HTX, Bybit, and Kraken. It’s a whole ecosystem of shady. According to an ICIJ probe, Binance, OKX, HTX, Bybit, and Kraken were all cited in connection to these scams.

Binance claims they work closely with law enforcement and can't block deposits. But c'mon, are we really supposed to believe they're helpless victims here? They're making billions off this stuff.

It's All Just One Big Pay-to-Play Scheme