US President Donald Trump granted a pardon in late October to Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the founder of Binance, touching off a fresh round of questions about whether business deals and political favors were linked to the clemency.
The move has split opinion: some lawmakers call for probes, while CZ’s legal team insists the pardon was lawful and not for sale.
Binance And The Trump-Linked Venture
According to reporting, Binance played a role in supporting a crypto company tied to the Trump family, World Liberty Financial, as that venture rolled out a stablecoin called USD1.
Reports say Binance engineers helped build parts of the project and that a major investor agreed to put roughly $2 billion into the venture, with some payments reportedly arranged in USD1 tokens.
DL News reports that CZ’s lawyer Teresa Goody Guillen denied any ‘pay-to-play’ arrangement behind President Trump’s October pardon of Changpeng Zhao, telling the Pomp Podcast there was no deal. She also refuted media claims that ties among Binance, World Liberty Financial and the… pic.twitter.com/lLq52dt6fF
— Ashir (@roomchanger2) November 17, 2025
CZ’s past conviction has sharpened scrutiny. He pleaded guilty in 2023 to charges tied to failures in stopping illicit use of the exchange.
He served four months behind bars before later receiving the presidential pardon in October. Those facts have been widely reported and are cited by critics who argue the timing and business ties merit a closer look.
Lawyer’s Denial On The Pomp Podcast
CZ’s attorney, Teresa Goody Guillén, has publicly rejected claims that the pardon was tied to any “pay-to-play” arrangement.
Based on reports of her Pomp Podcast appearance, she described the allegations as a “pile up of a lot of false statements” and said she has seen no proof that the pardon was traded for cash or crypto.
Guillén also challenged characterizations that World Liberty Financial is simply “the Trump family’s company.”
Binance itself has pushed back. Company statements and reporting attribute the large USD1-related investment decision to an investor group rather than to Binance directly, and Binance leaders have denied negotiating a pardon in exchange for business support.
That denial has not ended calls from some lawmakers for fuller transparency about meetings, agreements, and transfers tied to the USD1 rollout.
Lawmakers And Watchdogs Respond
Based on congressional comments and news coverage, critics including some senators have urged investigations to determine whether the pardon followed improper influence or conflicts of interest.
They point to the scale of the reported $2 billion deal and to meetings between business figures and Trump associates as reasons to seek documents and sworn testimony.
At the same time, defenders of the pardon argue the legal case against CZ was narrow, limited to compliance failures rather than fraud.
Featured image from Getty Images, chart from TradingView
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