Binance founder bags jail term in US

The founder of cryptocurrency startup Binance was sentenced to four months in US prison on Tuesday after pleading guilty to money laundering charges in the most high-profile crypto case since Sam Bankman-Fried’s arrest.

Changpeng Zhao, a Canadian, resigned from his position at the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange platform late last year as part of a settlement with US authorities.

According to two Treasury investigations, Binance failed to prohibit transactions by movements including the Islamic State, al-Qaeda, and Hamas’ military wing.

Zhao pleaded guilty to breaking US anti-money laundering laws, and Binance agreed in February to pay $4.3 billion to settle the accusations.

According to a court file, prosecutors requested that the judge sentence the defendant to three years in prison for a crime that generally results in probation.

“He made a business decision that violating US law was the best way to attract users, build his company, and line his pockets,” Justice Department lawyers said of Zhao in a sentencing memorandum.

“The sentence in this case will not just send a message to Zhao but also to the world.”

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Zhao’s attorneys replied in a filing that being sentenced to probation is equitable, appropriate, and consistent with legal history.

They emphasised Zhao’s acceptance of responsibility and his altruistic track record.

“I made mistakes, and I must take responsibility,” Zhao, who lives in the United Arab Emirates, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, in November.

He has resided in the United States since that time.

Binance was founded in 2017 and quickly dominated the cryptocurrency trading market, propelling its creator and CEO, Zhao, to billionaire status.

While Binance was created in China, Zhao expanded its operations overseas following Beijing’s crackdown on the cryptocurrency sector.

Binance operates cryptocurrency exchanges and offers other services around the world, but it suffered a significant setback when crypto markets fell and regulators began investigating the legality of its operations.

The volatile business surged in 2021, with a variety of complex products and celebrity endorsements propelling it to a valuation of more than $3 trillion by 2022.

However, a succession of scandals, notably the November 2022 collapse of Binance’s main rival exchange, FTX, and criminal charges against numerous industry officials, eroded public trust and caused investors to withdraw their funds from the cryptocurrency market.

FTX founder Bankman-Fried received a 25-year prison sentence in March.

The cryptocurrency market has recovered in recent months, thanks in large part to US regulators approving exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in bitcoin, which allow investors to trade the commodity without having a crypto account.

Binance’s new CEO, Richard Teng, told AFP last month that the business has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on compliance and is working closely with regulators.

Binance founder bags jail term in US

U.S. Court fines Trump $9,000 for violating gag order

Judge Merchan has fined former U.S. President Donald Trump $9,000 for violating his gag order and was found in contempt of court.

Trump was fined $1,000 (£799) for each breach. There are nine total counts. That means Trump will have to pay $9,000.

The judge also ruled that Trump could attend his son’s graduation, letting him skip court 17 May and 3 June.

“This Court rejects Defendant’s arguments and finds that the People have established the elements of criminal contempt beyond a reasonable doubt as to Exhibits 2-10.

“Defendant violated the Order by making social media posts about known witnesses pertaining to their participation in this criminal proceeding and by making public statements about jurors in this criminal proceeding,” the Judge said.

According to CNN, The nine incidents represent seven posts and reposts on Truth Social and two posts on Trump’s campaign website.

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He was fined $1,000 for each violation, must pay the fine by the close of business Friday and must remove the posts by 2:15 p.m. today.

Merchan also threatened incarceration if Trump willfully violated the gag order again.

“Therefore, Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment,” he said.

The gag order restricts prosecutors and the defense from commenting on court figures outside of the courtroom.

The defence is done with Gary Farro, a banker, after asking him about the $130,000 (£104,000) transaction paid to porn star Stormy Daniels

Trump is accused of trying to cover up a $130,000 (£104,500) payment to Daniels before he won the 2016 election, which prosecutors say was election interference

He has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records and denies any sexual encounter with Daniels

U.S. Court fines Trump $9,000 for violating gag order

Floods sweep Kenyan cities, 42 dead in dam collapse, 130,000 displaced

About 42 people have died in Kenya and hundreds displaced after a dam burst its banks near a town in the Rift Valley as heavy rains and floods battered the country.

The authorities confirmed this to AFP on Monday,

The dam burst near Mai Mahiu in Nakuru county, washing away houses and cutting off a road, with rescuers digging through debris to find survivors.

“Forty-two dead, it’s a conservative estimate. There are still more in the mud, we are working on recovery,” said Nakuru governor Susan Kihika.

Monday’s dam collapse raises the total death toll over the March-May wet season to 120 as heavier than usual rainfall pounds East Africa, compounded by the El Nino weather pattern.

The Kenya Red Cross said Monday it had retrieved two bodies after a boat carrying “a large number of people” capsized at the weekend in flooded Tana River county in eastern Kenya, adding that 23 others had been rescued.

Video footage shared online and broadcast on television showed the crowded boat sinking, with people screaming as onlookers watched in horror.

On Saturday, officials said 76 people had lost their lives in Kenya since March.

Flash floods have submerged roads and neighbourhoods, leading to the displacement of more than 130,000 people across 24,000 households, many of them in the capital Nairobi, according to government figures released Saturday.

Schools have been forced to remain shut following mid-term holidays, after the education ministry announced Monday that it would postpone their reopening by one week due to “ongoing heavy rains”.

“The devastating effects of the rains in some of the schools is so severe that it will be imprudent to risk the lives of learners and staff before water-tight measures are put in place to ensure adequate safety,” Education Minister Ezekiel Machogu said.