Former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao is reportedly considering filing a libel suit against Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren over claims related to him allegedly bribing US President Donald Trump for a pardon.
According to a Tuesday New York Post report, Zhao’s lawyer, Teresa Goody Guillén, a partner at Baker & Hostetler, stated that the former Binance CEO plans to file a lawsuit unless Warren retracts claims she made in an Oct. 23 X post following his presidential pardon.
The social media post, which now includes context from readers, claimed CZ “pleaded guilty to a criminal money laundering charge,” leading to his four-month prison sentence in 2024. Zhao pleaded guilty to one charge related to his failure to maintain an effective Anti-Money Laundering program at Binance in November 2023 — a violation of the Bank Secrecy Act.
“Mr. Zhao will not remain silent while a United States Senator seemingly misuses the office to repeatedly publish defamatory statements that impugn his reputation,” Goody Guillén said, according to The Post. “Accordingly, Mr. Zhao respectfully immediately requests the retraction of these false statements, both within the resolution and on X… Mr. Zhao reserves his right to pursue all legal remedies available to address these false statements.”
Trump’s pardon of CZ on Oct. 23 shocked many in the crypto industry and in Congress, where some claimed the president had acted in response to an Abu Dhabi-based investment company investing $2 billion into Binance using the USD1 stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial — the crypto company tied to Trump’s family.
Warren’s tweet also claimed that Zhao “financed President Trump’s stablecoin,” calling the move “corruption.” CZ responded online by claiming “there were NO money laundering changes [sic]” and Warren “can’t get her facts right.”
Potential Lawsuit and Previous Defamation Claims
Cointelegraph reached out to Warren’s office, Binance and Goody Guillén for comments on the potential lawsuit but had not received responses at the time of publication. Warren had not issued any public statement through social media on the potential lawsuit, and her X post was still live at the time of publication.
In July, CZ threatened to file a lawsuit against Bloomberg over a report that claimed Binance developed the original smart contract code for the USD1 stablecoin. The report included claims that Zhao had applied for a presidential pardon after the $2-billion deal tied to USD1 and Binance.
The former Binance CEO sued Bloomberg Businessweek in 2022 over a report in its Chinese-language edition claiming that the crypto exchange was operating a Ponzi scheme. In response, the magazine issued an apology in 2024, and the company agreed to make a charitable donation to settle the matter.