Founder of Binance, World’s Largest Crypto Firm, Sentenced to Four Months


全球最大加密货币交易所币安的创始人、亿万富翁赵长鹏周二因违反洗钱规定被判处四个月监禁，轻于检方所要求的刑罚。


币安创始人赵长鹏抵达西雅图法庭接受宣判。

全球最大的加密货币交易所币安(Binance)的创始人、亿万富翁赵长鹏周二被判处四个月监禁，轻于希望向外界传达对币圈犯罪行为严厉态度的检方所要求的刑罚。 6park.com
Billionaire Changpeng Zhao, founder of Binance, the world’s biggest crypto exchange, was sentenced Tuesday to four months in prison, a lighter punishment than requested by prosecutors who hoped to send a message about crime in the industry. 6park.com
美国地区法官Richard A. Jones说，你有责任遵守美国的法规，不是一些法规，而是全部，你错过了那个机会。 6park.com
“You had a responsibility to comply with United States regulations. Not some but all,” U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones said. “You failed at that opportunity.” 6park.com
 
47岁的赵长鹏在去年11月承认违反了美国反洗钱规定。他同意辞去币安首席执行官的职务。赵长鹏仍是币安的大股东。 6park.com
Zhao, 47, pleaded guilty in November to violating U.S. anti-money-laundering requirements. He agreed to step down as Binance’s chief executive and pay a criminal fine of $50 million. 6park.com
 
赵长鹏对法官说，他对自己的行为深感后悔，深感抱歉。赵长鹏的母亲、姐姐、侄子和长子出席了听证会，坐在旁听席的第一排。赵长鹏身穿深蓝色西装，打着浅蓝色领带。他表示：“我充分认识到自己所犯错误的严重性。” 6park.com
“I deeply regret my behavior and I’m sorry,” Zhao said to the judge. His mother, sister, nephew and eldest son appeared at the hearing, sitting in the first row of the gallery. Zhao wore a dark blue suit and light blue tie. “I fully recognize the seriousness of the mistakes I made.” 6park.com
 
赵长鹏将在晚些时候去监狱报到。在法官宣读量刑理由时，他默默地点了点头。 6park.com
Zhao will self-report to prison at a later date. As the judge read through his reasoning for imposing his sentence, Zhao nodded along with a muted expression. 6park.com
 
这一判决是美国对币安进行多年刑事调查的结果，也显示了美国执法人员如何针对加密货币带来的国家安全和洗钱风险。政府已经对肆意扩张的加密货币行业加强了监管，包括使用制裁来破坏据称向网络犯罪分子和美国对手提供便利的交易所和交易商。 6park.com
The sentence was a culmination of a multiyear U.S. criminal investigation into Binance and showed how U.S. law enforcers have targeted the national-security and money-laundering risks posed by cryptocurrencies. The government has thrown more of its arsenal at the freewheeling crypto industry, including using sanctions to disrupt exchanges and dealers that allegedly cater to cybercriminals and U.S. adversaries. 6park.com
 
对于赵长鹏，检方此前要求法官判处三年监禁，比量刑指引规定的18个月高出一倍。他们认为，由于没有实施有效的反洗钱计划，赵长鹏使黑客、毒贩和违反制裁的人得以利用币安转移数亿美元并从中牟利。 6park.com
For Zhao, prosecutors had asked the judge to impose a sentence of three years in prison, double the sentencing guidelines of 18 months. By not implementing an effective anti-money-laundering program, Zhao allowed hackers, drug dealers and sanctions violators to use the exchange to move hundreds of millions of dollars, all while making money, they argued. 6park.com
 
检方表示，赵长鹏故意违反美国法律绝非偶然或疏忽。检方称，赵长鹏做出了一个商业决定，认为违反美国法律是吸引用户、壮大公司和赚取钱财的最佳方式。 6park.com
“Zhao’s willful violation of U.S. law was no accident or oversight,” prosecutors said. “He made a business decision that violating U.S. law was the best way to attract users, build his company, and line his pockets.” 6park.com
 
赵长鹏的律师要求赵长鹏获得缓刑并免于监禁，理由是他没有犯罪前科，而且已经面临包括辞去币安首席执行官职务在内的各种后果。 6park.com
赵长鹏还同意支付5,000万美元的刑事罚款，但他的认罪协议规定，只要他在一起相关案件中向美国监管机构商品期货交易委员会(Commodity Futures Trading Commission)另外支付1.5亿美元的民事罚款，就可以免于支付这笔罚款。 6park.com
Lawyers for Zhao requested no prison time and a period of probation, citing the founder’s lack of prior criminal history and the ramifications he had already faced, including stepping down as Binance’s chief executive. Zhao also agreed to pay a criminal fine of $50 million. He remains Binance’s majority shareholder. 6park.com
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赵长鹏的律师在一份量刑备忘录中写道，据他们所知，没有任何一个被控未能有效控制洗钱的初犯者被判入狱的案例。美国司法部本周刚刚要求众议院议员加强对该罪行的量刑指引。 6park.com
主张对加密货币进行更严格监管的人士表示，司法部的指控指向赵长鹏违反合规规定，而非他和币安其他人参与洗钱或为洗钱提供便利，这是错误的。 6park.com
倡导更严格金融监管的组织Better Markets的负责人Dennis Kelleher称，赵长鹏和币安的其他一些人应该受到实质性违规指控，而不是一个几乎类似于违反记录保存规定的最低限度指控。 6park.com
多年来，币安深陷一系列美国刑事和民事执法行动之中，包括监管机构指控它非法为美国人提供服务并违反了投资者保护法。 6park.com
Binance was enmeshed for years in a dragnet of U.S. criminal and civil law enforcement, including regulatory claims that it illegally served Americans and violated investor-protection laws.


成立于2017年的币安成为了全球加密货币市场最重要的枢纽。

在与美国司法部达成的协议中，这家加密货币公司最终就违反反洗钱规定认罪，同意支付总计43亿美元的罚款，并允许一家独立监督机构进行监督。 6park.com
The crypto firm eventually pleaded guilty to anti-money-laundering violations in a deal with the Justice Department—agreeing to pay fines totaling $4.3 billion and to allow oversight by an independent monitor. 6park.com
 
该公司仍面临美国证券交易委员会(Securities and Exchange Commission)的民事诉讼，该诉讼指控其滥用客户资金并在美国经营非法交易所。 6park.com
It still faces a civil lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations that it misused customer funds and ran an illegal exchange in the U.S. 6park.com
 
赵长鹏因力挺加密货币行业而赢得了大批粉丝，他经常告诉粉丝不要理会媒体对加密货币或币安的报道，他认为这些报道制造了恐惧、不确定性或怀疑。赵长鹏的890万X粉丝都叫他CZ。 6park.com
Changpeng Zhao—or CZ as his 8.9 million X followers know him—gained a following for his vehement support of the crypto industry, often telling followers to ignore media coverage of crypto or Binance that he felt created fear, uncertainty or doubt. 6park.com
 
2013年，赵长鹏在上海的一个牌局中第一次听说了比特币，之后就进入了币圈。他卖掉了自己在上海的公寓换成比特币，并曾为多家加密货币初创公司工作，之后于2017年创办了币安。 6park.com
He got into crypto after first hearing about bitcoin during a poker game in Shanghai in 2013. He sold his Shanghai apartment for bitcoin and worked for several crypto startups before launching Binance in 2017. 6park.com
 
该加密货币交易所迅速积累了庞大的用户群，为触达全球潜在用户而提供多种语言服务。交易者称赞它比对手平台更容易使用。 6park.com
The crypto exchange quickly amassed a large user base, offering services in many languages to reach potential users around the world. Traders lauded it as easier to use than its rivals. 6park.com
 
检方说，币安在2018年就知道自己拥有数以百万计的美国用户，但却没有设立一个程序来发现洗钱或违反制裁法的行为。结果，币安在2018年1月至2022年5月期间处理了美国人与据信在伊朗的用户之间规模达8.99亿美元的交易。 6park.com
Prosecutors said that Binance knew in 2018 that it had millions of U.S. users, but didn’t set up a program to detect money laundering or violations of sanctions laws. As a result, Binance processed trades between Americans and users believed to be in Iran valued at $899 million between January 2018 and May 2022. 6park.com
 
检方说：“币安严重破坏了美国对伊朗制裁的有效性。” 6park.com
“Binance critically undermined the effectiveness of U.S. sanctions against Iran,” prosecutors said. 6park.com
 
据检方称，这位币安创始人在2019年9月的聊天中写道，尽管法律似乎禁止这样做，但对于积累如此多的美国用户，“事后求原谅比事先获准更好”。 6park.com
The Binance founder wrote in a September 2019 chat that it was “better to ask forgiveness than permission” for amassing so many American users despite laws that appeared to forbid doing so, according to prosecutors. 6park.com
 
去年11月，当赵长鹏出现在西雅图联邦法院对指控表示认罪时，币安的员工感到非常惊讶。 6park.com
Binance employees were surprised when Zhao turned up at a Seattle federal courthouse last November to plead guilty to the charge. 6park.com
 
据知情人士透露，这位加密货币高管在2023年放慢了币安与美国的和解谈判，告诉他的律师称，他拒绝入狱或辞职。这位华裔加拿大人在2023年避免出门旅行，一直待在阿联酋，该国与美国没有引渡条约。 6park.com
The crypto executive slowed down Binance’s settlement discussions in 2023 by telling his lawyers he refused to go to jail or step down, according to people familiar with the matter. Zhao, a Chinese-Canadian, avoided traveling in 2023, staying in the United Arab Emirates, which lacks an extradition treaty with the U.S. 6park.com
 
知情人士说，币安的律师希望赵长鹏就调查达成和解，原因之一是司法部获得了公司早期赵长鹏和高管的开会视频。他们说，币安的律师认为这些视频显示赵长鹏有罪，并称这些证据“铁证如山”。 6park.com
Binance lawyers wanted Zhao to settle the investigation in part because the Justice Department obtained videos of early company meetings with Zhao and executives, people familiar with the matter said. Binance’s lawyers felt the videos showed Zhao’s guilt and described the evidence as “dead to rights,” they said. 6park.com
 
在法官做出刑事判决之前，赵长鹏被要求继续留在美国，尽管他曾试图返回阿联酋。赵长鹏在那里生活并拥有公民身份。检方称赵长鹏有潜逃风险。 6park.com
Ahead of sentencing for his criminal charges, Zhao had been required to remain in the U.S. despite his efforts to return to the United Arab Emirates, where he lives and has citizenship. Prosecutors said Zhao was a flight risk. 6park.com
 
在此期间，赵长鹏启动了一个新项目，一个名为“Giggle Academy”的教育平台，旨在提供1至12年级的免费基础教育。 6park.com
During this time, Zhao launched a new project, an educational platform called Giggle Academy that seeks to provide free basic education from grades 1 to 12. 6park.com
 
与此同时，币安继续蓬勃发展。数据提供商CCData的数据显示，上个月币安的交易量达到了近三年来的最高水平。赵长鹏认罪后，新任首席执行官Richard Teng接管了公司。该交易所的加密货币交易量仍然超过任何竞争对手。 6park.com
Meanwhile Binance has continued to thrive. Trading on Binance reached its highest level in almost three years last month, according to data provider CCData. A new CEO, Richard Teng, took the reins when Zhao pleaded guilty. The exchange is still home to more crypto trading than any competitor.