Documented Investigation requested; none publicly confirmed
Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao amid documented business ties between Binance and the family's stablecoin
Zhao's team paid a Trump-connected lobbying firm $1.3 million; Trump later said of Zhao, 'I don't know who he is.'
Events: 2025-10-21 · Published 2026-07-21 · Last verified 2026-07-21 · Record claim-clem-zhao
The DOJ warrant documents a full pardon signed October 21, 2025 (announced October 23) for Changpeng Zhao, who pleaded guilty in 2023 to failing to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering program at Binance. Politico reported his team paid lobbyist Ches McDowell's firm $1.3 million. The pardon came amid documented Binance–World Liberty Financial ties: Binance custody of the large majority of USD1 in circulation, the $2 billion MGX investment settled in USD1, and reported (never consummated) Trump-family talks about a Binance.US stake. Senate Banking Democrats had earlier demanded records on the stake talks and pardon pursuit.
What this establishes
- The pardon, the underlying conviction, the paid lobbying, and the independently documented business relationships between Binance and the family-linked stablecoin venture.
What this does not establish
- That the pardon was granted in exchange for any business benefit; no charge or finding links them.
- A personal Trump–Zhao relationship; the documented nexus is corporate.
- That the reported Binance.US stake talks produced a deal.
Amounts
| What | Amount | Precision | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reported fee to Checkpoint Government Systems for clemency lobbying (Politico/New Yorker reporting) | $1,300,000 | reported point estimate | Politico |
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Public response on record
“Trump told 60 Minutes he didn't 'know who he is' — a claim FactCheck.org rated as contradicted by the documented business entanglements. Zhao denied a business relationship with the Trump family: 'There's no business relationships whatsoever.' His attorney called the pardon rectification of an injustice.”
— Donald Trump, Changpeng Zhao, and Zhao's attorney, per FactCheck.org, CNBC, and Reuters · source
This records only whether a public response was located in a cited record as of the dated search note above. It is not a statement that this project contacted the subject.
Direct right-of-reply status
Direct outreach: not conducted by this project for this v0 record.
On the timeline
- 2025-03-13 Business Reported Trump-family talks about a stake in Binance.US
- 2025-10-21 Official acts Full pardon signed for Binance founder Changpeng Zhao
Adjacency on a timeline shows order in time only. It does not establish that one event caused another.
Correction status
No corrections have been issued for this record. Corrections are append-only and listed on the corrections page.