The third of the 161 letters of relatives and friends petitioning for CZ released by the court:

From Ted Lin, CZ's high school classmate

I have known Changpeng Zhao (CZ) since 1990. I first met CZ when we both enrolled in the same high school in Vancouver, Canada. As children of first-generation immigrant parents, we shared similar values ​​and quickly became best friends. CZ is humble, hardworking, and honest, and I am proud to have such an adventurous partner in my youth.

CZ grew up in a simple environment. Among the high school classmates I knew, he was one of the least wealthy at the time. In order to support his family and have extra pocket money to spend, he had to work regularly at the local McDonald's. Despite having more responsibilities and limited free time, CZ was able to maintain excellent academic performance, and I often had to compete with him for the highest score. He also had outstanding athletic talent. Together with several classmates, we formed the school's volleyball team - the Eagles, and he was later named captain.

It was impressive to see the efforts CZ made to improve his volleyball skills. In the early 90s, the internet was not yet popular, so books were the main way to learn new knowledge. In addition to the training arranged by the coach, CZ would borrow volleyball books from the school library and diligently repeat the training movements, imitating the forms and techniques prescribed in the books. His progress was obvious, and eventually we all agreed that he should be the captain.

A lesser-known story about CZ is his English speaking challenges at the time. He often got stuck at the beginning of his speech, repeating the word "and". This stuttering was particularly noticeable in high-pressure environments, such as when he argued about the referee's call as our captain during school volleyball games. But gradually, this stuttering seemed to disappear. What few people know is that CZ has been receiving speech therapy for many years.

Through perseverance, he overcame his speech impediment and became an eloquent English speaker.

We graduated from high school in 1995 and went to different universities and started different careers. More than two decades later, our paths crossed again, and when I had the opportunity to work with him at Binance, I was very surprised by the unchanged humility, strong work ethic and integrity of my high school friend.