Binance Founder’s Lawyer Rejects Pay-for-Pardon Claims, Says Blockchain Would Reveal Any Payment

Lawyer: Blockchain Transparency Would Expose Any Pardon Payment

Teresa Goody Guillen, the attorney for Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (known as CZ), strongly denied suggestions that Zhao paid for the October presidential pardon he received from President Donald Trump. Speaking on the Pomp Podcast with Anthony Pompliano, Guillen said: “I just know that that would never happen, that’s not who he is.”

Podcast Exchange and Guillen’s Point

Pompliano asked whether the president might control a "secret Bitcoin wallet" that Zhao or Binance used to secure the pardon. Guillen responded by pointing to blockchain transparency: "We would see that tracked," she said, noting that while blockchain ledgers display wallet addresses and transactions publicly, they do not automatically reveal the real-world identity behind those addresses.

Background: Conviction, Pardon and Scrutiny

Zhao pleaded guilty in 2023 to violating the Bank Secrecy Act while leading Binance and served a four-month prison sentence in 2024. As part of his plea, he agreed to step down as CEO and pay a $50 million fine; Binance itself pleaded guilty to related charges and agreed to pay $4.3 billion in penalties. Zhao requested and received a presidential pardon in October, prompting questions about whether political or financial ties influenced the decision.

Ties to World Liberty, Trump Family and Related Reporting

News reports have highlighted closer ties between Binance and entities connected to the Trump family since the president's reelection. Reporting has linked Binance to World Liberty Financial, a crypto firm said to be part-owned by the Trump family. According to those reports, DT Marks DEFI LLC — a Trump-family company — at one point held a 75% stake in World Liberty and is now listed on the company website as holding 38%.

Bloomberg reported that Binance wrote the smart-contract code for World Liberty’s stablecoin, USD1; Zhao denied that report and threatened legal action. The Wall Street Journal reported that Binance promoted USD1 trading volume on PancakeSwap, a decentralized exchange running on BNB Chain. The Journal also said representatives of the Trump family discussed taking a stake in Binance’s U.S. arm; President Trump denied having any such discussions on X.

Deals and Reactions

In March, UAE-backed investment firm MGX announced plans to take a $2 billion stake in Binance and later said it intended to use USD1 to complete the transaction. Critics, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, have urged investigation into possible corruption, saying Congress must act if questionable influence is at play.

Guillen’s Defense and Context

Guillen called many of the linkage reports between Binance and World Liberty "a pile up of a lot of false statements, misstatements," and argued that the stories often rely on weak sourcing. She also defended the MGX transaction as a routine commercial arrangement, using an analogy about buying wheat and paying in a foreign currency to argue that using USD1 does not prove political pay-to-play.

Describing Zhao’s pardon as a matter of fairness, Guillen characterized his offense as a "regulatory infraction" and argued that comparable violations by large financial institutions often do not produce individual prosecutions.

Implications

Binance has been effectively barred from the U.S. market since its 2023 guilty plea. Some commentators say Zhao’s pardon could make it easier for Binance to reenter the U.S., though regulators and lawmakers are likely to continue scrutinizing the company’s operations and any connections to political actors.

"There’s still a lot of damage that was done to Binance and to CZ both. But a big loser in this is the US. Binance still isn’t here," Guillen said.

Reporting note: The account above summarizes statements from the podcast and public reporting by Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal and other outlets. Where applicable, allegations and company ties are described as reported by those outlets; Zhao and Binance have disputed some of the reporting.

By Aleks Gilbert, DL News — New York-based DeFi correspondent. Contact: aleks@dlnews.com