Former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Chao is reportedly considering filing a defamation lawsuit against Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren over claims related to allegations that she bribed U.S. President Donald Trump to obtain a pardon.
The New York Post reported Tuesday that Chao’s lawyer, Teresa Goody Guillen, a partner at Baker & Hostetler, said that Chao plans to sue unless Warren retracts the claims she made in her Oct. 23 X post following a presidential pardon.
The social media post also included context provided by readers, claiming that CZ “pleaded guilty to criminal charges of money laundering” and was sentenced to four months in prison in 2024. Mr. Chao pleaded guilty in November 2023 to one charge related to Binance’s failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program, a violation of the Bank Secrecy Act.
“Mr. Zhao will not remain silent while a U.S. senator repeatedly publishes defamatory statements that damage his reputation by abusing his office,” Goody Gillen said, according to the newspaper. “Therefore, Mr. Zhao respectfully requests the immediate retraction of these false statements within the resolution and regarding X… Mr. Zhao reserves the right to pursue all available legal remedies to address these false statements.”
President Trump’s CZ pardon on October 23 shocked many in the crypto industry and Congress, with some claiming that the president was acting in response to the Abu Dhabi-based investment firm’s $2 billion investment in Binance using the USD1 stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company with ties to President Trump’s family.
Warren’s tweet also claimed that Zhao “funded President Trump’s stablecoin,” calling the move “corrupt.” CZ responded online by claiming that “no money laundering changes were made.” [sic]” and Warren “cannot get his facts right.”
Related: President Trump’s crypto pardon raises concerns about ethics and corruption
Cointelegraph reached out to Warren’s office, Binance, and Goody Gillen for comment on the potential lawsuit, but did not receive a response at the time of publication. Warren has not made any public statements via social media about the potential lawsuit, and her X post was still active at the time of publication.
This isn’t CZ’s first rodeo with a defamation lawsuit.
In July, CZ threatened to file a lawsuit against Bloomberg over a report claiming that Binance developed the original smart contract code for the USD1 stablecoin. The report included claims that Zhao applied for a presidential pardon after the $2 billion deal between USD1 and Binance.
Binance’s former CEO sued Bloomberg Businessweek in 2022 over a Chinese-language report that claimed the cryptocurrency exchange was running a Ponzi scheme. In response, the magazine apologized in 2024, and the company agreed to make a charitable donation to help resolve the issue.
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