CZ’s Attorney Says Pay-to-Play Claims Are False: “There’s No Evidence, No Crime, No Secret Deals”
Teresa Goody Guillén, the personal attorney for Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ), is pushing back hard against rumors that his presidential pardon was part of a pay-to-play scheme.
In a recent interview with Anthony Pompliano, Guillén said the accusations are baseless and fueled by unverified reports that keep getting repeated without proof.
According to her, the case against CZ was regulatory, not criminal.
“He was charged because Binance didn’t have the right anti-money-laundering programs in place,” she said. “This is a compliance issue. There’s no money laundering, no victims, and no fraud. He never should have been prosecuted.”
“Media citing media citing media”
Guillén said many of the corruption claims come from reports that simply quote other reports, none of which provide solid evidence.
“You see a media report citing a media report, citing another media report — and there’s nothing behind it except unnamed sources,” she explained.
She also rejected the idea that CZ’s pardon was connected to World Liberty Financial or any crypto projects tied to Trump.
According to her, there’s no proof that the company behind the USD-1 stablecoin is “Trump’s company,” and there’s no special link just because USD-1 appears on Binance’s chain.
“Just because I list something on Craigslist doesn’t mean I have a special relationship with the CEO of Craigslist,” she joked.
Other crypto leaders were pardoned, too
Guillén noted that CZ wasn’t the only one to receive a pardon.
Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes and even Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht were also pardoned.
She explained that pardons — for people and companies — have existed since the early days of U.S. history.
No secret Bitcoin payments
Guillén strongly denied claims that CZ made secret Bitcoin payments to Trump.
“I know CZ. That would never happen. That’s just not who he is,” she said.
She also pushed back at Senator Elizabeth Warren for posting inaccurate statements about CZ online, saying you can’t publicly accuse someone of crimes they’ve never been charged with.
CZ won’t return to Binance
Guillén confirmed CZ will not be going back to lead Binance.
The exchange is still under strict oversight from the DOJ, CFTC, FinCEN, and OFAC and has a Treasury Department monitor making sure it complies with U.S. rules — even though Binance is not allowed to serve U.S. customers.
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