{"id":18072,"date":"2025-11-17T09:30:42","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T08:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/?p=18072"},"modified":"2025-11-17T09:30:42","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T08:30:42","slug":"czs-lawyer-disputes-allegations-of-pay-to-play-pardons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/czs-lawyer-disputes-allegations-of-pay-to-play-pardons\/","title":{"rendered":"CZ&#8217;s Lawyer Disputes Allegations of &#8220;Pay-To-Play&#8221; Pardons"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> &#8220;`html<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-v-0ccfa88e=\"\">\n<p>The attorney for Binance co-founder Changpeng \u201cCZ\u201d Zhao has refuted claims that he in any way financed a pardon from US President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<p>During an appearance on Anthony Pompliano\u2019s \u201cPomp Podcast\u201d on Friday, CZ\u2019s personal counsel Teresa Goody Guill\u00e9n characterized the criticism surrounding CZ\u2019s pardon as a \u201cconglomerate of numerous false assertions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe press persistently describes World Liberty as Trump\u2019s organization, and I have yet to see any evidence to validate that,\u201d she remarked, adding:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIndividuals are making these conclusions that merely exhibit a basic misunderstanding of how either business operates or how blockchain functions.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<figure><figcaption style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Source: <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=p1yempiOt5U\" rel=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=p1yempiOt5U\" target=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=p1yempiOt5U\" title=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=p1yempiOt5U\"><em>Pomp Podcast<\/em><\/a>                 <br \/><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>CZ spent four months incarcerated in 2024 and was required to step away from Binance due to allegations related to a failure to implement Anti-Money Laundering measures at the firm.<\/p>\n<p data-ct-non-breakable=\"undefined\">The former Binance CEO was <a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/trump-pardons-binance-founder-cz\">pardoned by Donald Trump<\/a> in October, with the <a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/trump-pardons-binance-founder-cz-crypto-community-support\">president asserting<\/a> that the reasons for CZ\u2019s imprisonment \u201cwere not criminal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Opponents of the decision, including <a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/binance-founder-clashes-with-warren-after-trump-pardon-comments\">Democratic<\/a> Senator Elizabeth Warren, deemed the pardon as \u201ccorruption\u201d because CZ \u201csupported\u201d one of Trump\u2019s crypto initiatives and \u201cadvocated for a pardon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The former <a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/binance-founder-clashes-with-warren-after-trump-pardon-comments\">Binance CEO retorted<\/a> that she was unable to get her \u201cfacts straight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><template data-ct-widget=\"buzzsprout\" data-buzzsprout-podcast-id=\"2040516\" data-buzzsprout-episode-id=\"18149921\"\/><\/p>\n<p data-ct-non-breakable=\"undefined\">In response to Warren\u2019s allegations, Guill\u00e9n challenged the immunity provided to US politicians, criticizing Warren for mistakenly claiming that CZ had been convicted for a crime \u201che wasn\u2019t convicted of,\u201d along with charges of added \u201ccriminal liability\u201d pertaining to the pardon.<\/p>\n<p data-ct-non-breakable=\"undefined\">\u201cThis is indeed a subject I hope we pay a little more attention to because the immunity granted to these individuals is not what our founding fathers intended,\u201d she expressed.<\/p>\n<h2>Pardon was \u201cjustice,\u201d argues CZ\u2019s attorney<\/h2>\n<p>During the discussion on Pompliano\u2019s podcast, Guill\u00e9n contended that CZ was \u201cpardoned for justice,\u201d maintaining that CZ had become a scapegoat in the battle against crypto, while highlighting the absence of prison sentences for executives in traditional finance involved in comparable legal dilemmas.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Related: <\/strong><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/cz-says-surprised-pardon-denies-ties-trump-family\"><em><strong>CZ states he was astonished by the pardon, denies connections to Trump family<\/strong><\/em><\/a><em><strong>y<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s the sole individual who has ever faced prosecution and then worse, imprisoned for this specific accusation or anything similar with the characteristics of no fraud and no victims, devoid of any criminal history,&#8221; she noted, adding:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI believe it was part of the war on crypto, and at that juncture, this occurred shortly after the FTX collapse; I think the war on crypto needed to target someone, hence they had to prosecute and really persecute an individual. Unfortunately, that turned out to be Binance and CZ.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em><strong>Magazine: <\/strong><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/2026-pragmatic-privacy-crypto-canton-zcash-ethereum-foundation\/\"><em><strong>2026 will be the year of pragmatic privacy in crypto: Canton, Zcash, and more<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><template data-name=\"subscription_form\" data-type=\"markets_outlook\" label=\"Subscription Form: Markets Outlook\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/cz-lawyer-refutes-pay-to-play-accusation-trump-pardon?utm_source=rss_feed&#038;utm_medium=rss_tag_regulation&#038;utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound\">Source link <\/a><br \/>\n&#8220;`<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;`html The attorney for Binance co-founder Changpeng \u201cCZ\u201d Zhao has refuted claims that he in any way financed a pardon from US President Donald Trump. During an appearance on Anthony Pompliano\u2019s \u201cPomp Podcast\u201d on Friday, CZ\u2019s personal counsel Teresa Goody Guill\u00e9n characterized the criticism surrounding CZ\u2019s pardon as a \u201cconglomerate of numerous false assertions.\u201d \u201cThe<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18073,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[4274],"class_list":{"0":"post-18072","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy-and-markets","8":"tag-return-a-list-of-comma-separated-tags-from-this-title-czs-attorney-refutes-pay-to-play-pardon-claims"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>CZ&#039;s Lawyer Disputes Allegations of &quot;Pay-To-Play&quot; Pardons - WSJ-Crypto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/czs-lawyer-disputes-allegations-of-pay-to-play-pardons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"it_IT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CZ&#039;s Lawyer Disputes Allegations of &quot;Pay-To-Play&quot; Pardons - WSJ-Crypto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&#8220;`html The attorney for Binance co-founder Changpeng \u201cCZ\u201d Zhao has refuted claims that he in any way financed a pardon from US President Donald Trump. During an appearance on Anthony Pompliano\u2019s \u201cPomp Podcast\u201d on Friday, CZ\u2019s personal counsel Teresa Goody Guill\u00e9n characterized the criticism surrounding CZ\u2019s pardon as a \u201cconglomerate of numerous false assertions.\u201d \u201cThe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/czs-lawyer-disputes-allegations-of-pay-to-play-pardons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WSJ-Crypto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-17T08:30:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/019a9004-b055-7966-a4b4-c85aac23c9aa.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"799\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"wsjcrypto\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Scritto da\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"wsjcrypto\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Tempo di lettura stimato\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minuti\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/czs-lawyer-disputes-allegations-of-pay-to-play-pardons\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/czs-lawyer-disputes-allegations-of-pay-to-play-pardons\/\",\"name\":\"CZ's Lawyer Disputes Allegations of \\\"Pay-To-Play\\\" Pardons - WSJ-Crypto\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/czs-lawyer-disputes-allegations-of-pay-to-play-pardons\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/czs-lawyer-disputes-allegations-of-pay-to-play-pardons\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/019a9004-b055-7966-a4b4-c85aac23c9aa.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-17T08:30:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/#\/schema\/person\/88a93723b30416db1a352d5a0096c4a7\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/czs-lawyer-disputes-allegations-of-pay-to-play-pardons\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"it-IT\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/czs-lawyer-disputes-allegations-of-pay-to-play-pardons\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"it-IT\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/czs-lawyer-disputes-allegations-of-pay-to-play-pardons\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/019a9004-b055-7966-a4b4-c85aac23c9aa.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/019a9004-b055-7966-a4b4-c85aac23c9aa.jpeg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":799},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/czs-lawyer-disputes-allegations-of-pay-to-play-pardons\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"CZ&#8217;s Lawyer Disputes Allegations of &#8220;Pay-To-Play&#8221; 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