161 letters from relatives and friends petitioning for CZ released by the court
Translated letter 10:
Dear Judge Jones,
United States Federal Court
700 Stewart Street, Suite 13128
Seattle, WA 98101-9906
Dear Judge Jones
Changpeng Zhao and I have known each other for 27 years. We studied at the same university, McGill University, in Montreal, Canada. We have been very good friends since college. We also worked at Bloomberg in New York, USA, and in fact, it was he who recommended me that I received the job offer. We also worked together on several software projects for startups, so we were also business partners. So, I have known him for more than 20 years before his own company, Binance, was founded.
I must say that Chang is a true friend to me and I cherish this friendship very much. I work as a peer counselor in high school in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and I am used to providing counseling support to classmates who may have experienced physical trauma or emotional burdens in high school or at home. But many people don’t know that my friend Chang is also a true counselor to me on many occasions. I remember when we were in school, we had to work on UNIX programming projects and stay up late in the computer lab. If he saw that I was unhappy or troubled by something, he would let me take a break, take me out of the lab and ask me what was wrong. He has always been a kind, caring and warm-hearted friend. Not just in school, he took care of his friends like me, often listened to our problems and tried to help when he could. He was a true friend who helped me emotionally and provided me with guidance. He helped me make the best decision many times by listening to my current problems and giving his unbiased advice, letting me think about different directions and consider his advice. When I was working at Bloomberg, there were several colleagues who didn't like me very much, and he supported me as my friend. He also stood by me when I decided to go back to Asia because my father was sick in the hospital in Taiwan. When I went back to Asia and worked in China, I was not very used to the company culture there and had a lot of problems, and my Chinese boss, Chang would listen to my problems and provide his advice many times.To me, Chang is a great guy, he was an amazing friend, long before he founded Binance. He truly cares about his friends and is very willing to help friends when he can, and I have received a lot of positive influence from him.
I think Chang has a high standard of work ethics and professional behavior. With my experience working in the same company as him at Bloomberg, and in other types of software projects at startups, I have seen that he works very hard and is very responsible. He often works until late at night or even early in the morning so that he can provide the best quality service and products. I have lived and worked in China, and I have seen Chinese companies offer bribes to gain advantages or votes, and create fake news to attack competitors. All of these bad business practices are unacceptable in North America. As far as I know, Chang never does such things. He has lived in China for many years, but he has never developed any of these bad habits. He maintains a good work ethic, and he truly believes that a healthy competitive environment will benefit everyone, including his company, his competitors, and consumers.
So, he never attacks competitors in any unseemly way. I think I am a fairly rational person, but I think Chang is even a level higher than me. He is very meticulous and logical, which makes him impartial and not stubborn when making decisions, and therefore a very fair and just person. We worked with a few other friends in 2011 to develop some educational software for iPads for children. Whenever I have an argument or debate with other members, I usually go to Chang and ask him what he thinks and which side he agrees with. I often go to Chang for advice, not only because he usually has more perspective on things, but I know he is a very fair person.
Chang often talks about how lucky and blessed he is and that he wants to do something and give back to society. After Chang founded Binance, he grew up and gained more ability to help more people. During the Covid pandemic, on at least 4 or 5 occasions that we contacted in recent years, Chang mentioned his charity work and asked me if myself or any other friends were still in touch with our classmate Kaori, a Japanese girl who spent many years in Africa with the Red Cross and the United Nations, helping the poor in Africa.Chang wants to contact her so he can discuss more philanthropic options and how to diversify and better utilize his contributions. I can really feel that even though Chang built a successful company, he still maintains a "giving back" attitude and positive philosophy, and he wants to give back and contribute more to charity so that he can have more positive impact on society and help more people, even if he doesn't know them.
Chang is one of my best friends, he is a very friendly and very decent person. I sincerely hope that nothing bad will happen to him. So please consider all aspects of him and all situations before making any decisions.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Danny Lee
#ChangpengZhao#