CZ told to ‘give up the scamming’ in X spat with Ari Paul
Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has been advised to “enjoy life and give up the scamming” in a heated social media back-and-forth with BlockTower founder Ari Paul.
The spat began when Paul responded to an X post by Zhao that challenged The Wall Street Journal’s claim that “As part of Zhao’s plea deal, he agreed to give evidence on (Tron founder Justin) Sun to prosecutors.”
In the post, Zhao said, “WSJ (The Wall Street Journal) is really TRYING here. They seem to have forgotten who went to prison and who didn’t.
“People who become gov witnesses don’t go to prison. They are protected.
“I heard someone paid WSJ employees to smear me.”
However, Paul pointed out, “You (Zhao) didn’t get 25+ years for money laundering and terrorism financing charges and stealing customer assets because DoJ wanted your dirt on everyone else in crypto, and didn’t want you vanishing in Dubai with $60b of customer assets.”
He added, “Massive sentence reductions in return for dirt on your colleagues and assets returned is pretty common.”
Read more: Binance suspends team member who used BNB Chain info to front-run token
The pair then argue about whether or not Zhao was subject to money laundering charges or anti-money laundering charges. According to Zhao, “To be clear, there were NO ‘money laundering’ or ‘fraud’ charges.
“You are confusing ‘ANTI-money laundering’ with ‘money laundering.’ One is a failure to prevent/police. One is doing it yourself. Two very different things.”
He then accused Paul of “trying to make up non-existent fraud charges” before claiming that “all customer assets were 100% safe and untouched.”
Paul hit back, however, telling Zhao, “We have the on-chain proof of the opposite… We can all see the transfers from Binance to Merritt peak. And yes, as I said, you avoided many criminal charges, the DoJ had you dead to rights with your plea deal.”
“The only ‘interesting’ thing here,” he adds, “is that anyone believes a word you say when in just the last 48 hours you’ve lied in provable ways on at least three separate issues.”
He then paid Zhao something of a backhanded compliment, adding, “I give credit where it’s due… You played this whole game brilliantly. I thought you’d have to ‘vanish’ to keep most of your freedom and financial gains.
He rounds off with a warning to Zhao. “I’m at least hoping you aren’t able to fool so many the next round. If you don’t have ambitions beyond the financial, I don’t know why you’d run the risk again.
“Enjoy your billions and freedom. Your next con, you may be the guy turned on instead of the rat. Better not to risk it and enjoy life and give up the scamming.”
Read more: Binance token listing no longer a ‘bullish’ event, research
Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison in April 2024 after he pleaded guilty to charges related to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA).
The sentence was far less than the three years recommended by prosecutors in their sentencing memo and more than the no jail time recommended by Zhao’s defense.
Zhao’s sentence was also significantly less than the 25 years handed down to FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
Bankman-Fried didn’t plead and was convicted on multiple felony charges, including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, and money laundering.
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