United States Representative Maxine Waters strongly criticized US President Donald Trump for his decision to pardon Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao.
Trump pardoned Zhao on Thursday, saying people told him “what he did is not even a crime.” Waters, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Financial Services, hit back later Thursday, claiming in a statement that “Trump is doing massive favors for crypto criminals who have helped line his pockets.”
“Trump’s pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao—who pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering and facilitating suspicious transactions with child abusers, drug dealers, and terrorists—is an appalling but unsurprising reflection of his presidency,” Waters said. Trump said his decision to pardon Zhao followed “a lot of people” telling him CZ wasn’t guilty.
“It wasn’t a crime; he was persecuted by the Biden Administration,” Trump claimed.
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Waters disagrees
Waters added that “CZ has spent months lobbying Trump and his family while funneling billions into Trump’s personal crypto company, World Liberty Financial.” According to her, the pardon was a result of those efforts, “and a blatant example of the kind of pay-to-play corruption that Trump and his Administration continue to engage in.”
The statements follow recent reports indicating that Trump’s second term in office has coincided with an extraordinary increase in his personal wealth, contributed to by a sprawling cryptocurrency empire built by the president and his family. Those ventures have reportedly generated more than $1 billion in pre-tax profit over the past year.
Trump’s family does not hide this fact. Trump’s son, Eric Trump, even said the family’s actual profits were “probably more.”
Related: Crypto execs fork over cash at Trump’s ballroom fundraiser
World Liberty Financial fares well
World Liberty Financial, as cited by Waters, is at the center of this new fortune. The decentralized finance (DeFi) company was founded by Trump’s sons and associates and has sold billions of dollars in tokens and stablecoins.
Trump disclosed $57.4 million in income from his involvement with World Liberty Financial back in June, and last month, his family’s stake in it surged to $5 billion after a token unlock. Newer estimates put the family’s earnings from WLFI this year at $550 million.
Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions
