Most of us will thankfully never have to deal with posting bond to be let out of jail.
Typically the bail process involves putting up 10% of the bond value in order to be let out on your own recognizance.
But the rich do bail a lot differently, or at least they think they can.
Changpeng Zhao, better known in the crypto world at CZ, pleaded guilty to money laundering on Nov. 21, 2023 and is currently free on a $175 million bond in the United States, but he isn’t allowed to leave the country. He’s facing up to 18 months in jail when he is sentenced in February of 2024.
CZ stepped down as Binance’s CEO in November 2022 as part of a $4.3 billion settlement his company Binance made with U.S. regulators in which he admitted to running an unlicensed money-transmitting business and violating the Bank Secrecy Act. CZ himself is responsible for paying a $50 million dollar fine.
Before he begins serving his sentence, he’d just like to travel abroad to the United Arab Emirates to “to see a friend or family member undergoing surgery and staying in a hospital” according to a letter his legal team sent to federal prosecutors who were not impressed.
As you might guess, allowing an international crypto kingpin awaiting sentencing in the U.S. to leave the country to a non-extradition country is sorta a non-starter.
CZ’s final attempt at trying to leave the U.S. while out on bail was for him to pledge his entire equity stake in Binance.US, which, according to the letter to the court, was valued at $4.5 billion based on their last funding round in 2022.
The court said no, No, NO!
So now CZ is holed up in one of his luxury mansions in the U.S. awaiting sentencing without a snowball’s chance in hell of being allowed to leave the country, even if he does have a sick friend or family member in the hospital in the UAE.
CZ tried to pledge his entire Binance stake to leave US in January