CZ lawyer "Trump pardon not pay-to-play…all controversy is mere conjecture'"

Changpeng Zhao (CZ), co-founder of Binance, has his legal representative fully denying allegations that President Donald Trump's pardon was 'pay-to-play'.

According to Cointelegraph on the 17th (local time), Changpeng Zhao's personal attorney Teresa Gudi Giyeon said on Anthony Pompliano's 'Pomp Podcast' that "the criticism surrounding CZ's pardon is a mixture of several falsehoods."

Giyeon said, "The media have concluded that World Liberty is President Trump's company, but I have never seen evidence to support that," and "this is conjecture arising from a fundamental lack of understanding of blockchain or business structures."

Giyeon also rebutted Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren's criticism of a 'pay-to-play pardon.' Giyeon said, "Senator Warren is wrongly claiming that CZ was punished for a crime for which he was never convicted," and pointed out, "The broad immunity afforded to politicians is different from the intent of the founding."

CZ was incarcerated for four months in connection with allegations of failing to comply with anti-money laundering (AML) obligations in 2024, and was later pardoned by President Trump. President Trump at the time stated, "The reason for the incarceration was not a crime."

Giyeon emphasized that this pardon "was a decision for Justice." He argued that CZ was "the only one prosecuted and punished in a matter with no victims, no indications of fraud, and no prior convictions," and claimed he "became a victim of the 'anti-crypto war' triggered immediately after the FTX collapse."

He added, "In traditional finance, there have been no cases where a CEO received a prison sentence for a similar matter," and "Binance and CZ have been disproportionately targeted."

Meanwhile, the remarks are the lawyer's first public statement directly addressing the CZ pardon amid ongoing controversy.