Binance founder Changpeng Zhao has reported to a low-security federal prison in Lompoc, California, to begin his four-month sentence for money-laundering violations, according to CNBC.
Zhao’s defence team at Latham & Watkins law firm confirmed to CNBC that the former Binance CEO is now in custody.
The Lompoc low-security prison holds about 1,300 inmates and is made up of four main housing units, two of which are dormitory style. All inmates are required to participate in various work or education assignments. The prison also operates a farm.
Prosecutors had sought a three-year sentence for Zhou, but he received a much lighter term after submitting a letter of apology to Judge Richard Jones, reading in part: “I apologise for my poor decision and take full responsibility for my actions. In hindsight, I should have focused on Binance’s compliance changes from the beginning, but I didn’t.”
Born in China, Zhao and his family moved to Canada when he was 12. As a teenager he worked at a gas station and for two years as a cook at McDonald’s, where he said he made $4.50 Canadian dollars an hour, DL News reported.
He studied computer science at Montreal’s McGill University and spent four years with Bloomberg in New York, where he developed software for futures traders.
Zhao, now 47, co-founded Binance in 2017, and within five months of its launch, it was the world’s top crypto exchange.
Last November, Zhao struck a deal with prosecutors. He agreed to step down from his position as CEO, plead guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act, and pay a $50 million fine.
His former company, Binance, agreed to pay $4.3 billion in fines and to share information about its anti-money-laundering efforts with a court-appointed compliance monitor for five years.