Democratic senators have asked U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and the U.S. Department of Justice to provide additional information regarding President Donald Trump’s pardon of Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Chao.
In an open letter on Tuesday, seven Democratic senators wrote that the pardons “send a signal to crypto executives and other white-collar criminals that they can commit crimes with impunity.” Lawmakers accused Trump of encouraging criminal activity “as long as it enriches us.”
The letter follows similar criticism earlier this week by Rep. Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, who said, “President Trump is doing tremendous favors to the crypto criminals who have lined his own pockets.”
Signatories include Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Chris Van Hollen, Bernard Sanders, Maisie Hirono, Richard Blumenthal, Jack Reed, and Jeffrey Merkley. They wrote, “This pardon will make it harder for federal law enforcement to fight and deter crime.”
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Senators claim Trump-Binance relationship
In their letter, the senators highlight several alleged connections between Mr. Zhao, Mr. Trump, and Binance. Late last year, the Trump family launched World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform that has since been associated with Binance operations.
This launch was followed by a series of accusations that Zhao facilitated introductions and meetings of WLF leaders, which CZ denied in late May. Other reports claim that Binance played a role in developing the code behind USD1, a stablecoin issued by WLFI.
“After Mr. Zhao’s company provided a source of income worth millions of dollars to President Trump and his family, President Trump pardoned Mr. Zhao for the criminal acts he admitted to having committed.”
Reports earlier this month also claimed that Chao’s pardon was the result of lobbying by Binance, which included $450,000 to lobbyists with ties to Trump and $290,000 to Teresa Goody Guillen, a former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman candidate and CZ lawyer.
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Lawmakers question impact on law enforcement
The senators argued that Trump’s pardon could “publicly seriously undermine the work of federal law enforcement” and “could send a message to crypto executives and other white-collar corporate criminals that the law doesn’t matter.”
They asked the Justice Department and Bondi to explain the expected impact of the pardon, particularly on people and companies involved in crimes in the cryptocurrency industry. They also asked for clarification on whether President Trump’s alleged financial relationship with CZ influenced the decision to issue the pardon.
President Trump pardoned CZ last week, saying people had told him “what he did wasn’t even a crime.” In 2024, Zhao pleaded guilty to violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act for failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program at Binance.
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