The Binance logo is displayed on a screen in San Anselmo, California, June 6, 2023.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
Binance chief Changpeng Zhao will plead guilty to criminal charges and step down as the company’s CEO as part of a $4 billion settlement with the Department of Justice, according to court documents. The plea arrangement with the government resolves a multi-year investigation into the world’s largest crypto exchange.
Zhao and others are charged with violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to implement an effective anti-money laundering program and for willfully violating U.S. economic sanctions “in a deliberate and calculated effort to profit from the U.S. market without implementing controls required by U.S. law,” according to the Justice Department.
— CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report.
