Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison for failing to establish adequate anti-money laundering protections. Zhao, once the head of the largest crypto exchange in the world, pleaded guilty in November 2023.

Though Zhao is not as well-known as FTX fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried, he is a more important figure in the crypto world. The Chinese-Canadian entrepreneur founded Binance in 2017. Though he was required to step down as CEO of the exchange as part of his plea agreement, he is still the controlling shareholder of the company, which one person told Bloomberg was “a massive shitcoin casino.” Binance listed many more tokens than competitors such as Coinbase.

Prosecutors requested three years of prison time, double the sentencing guideline of 18 months, because the “scope and ramifications of Zhao’s misconduct were massive,” they wrote in their sentencing memo. They also suggested that Zhao’s sentence should “reflect the significant harm to US national security caused by his criminal acts.”

Binance allowed sanctions violations of more than $898 million, according to prosecutors, and “violated US law on an unprecedented scale.” Zhao and other Binance executives didn’t comply with US laws, including the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), and didn’t adequately implement anti-money laundering efforts. As a result, Iranian customers were able to transact at least $1.1 million with US customers in violation of sanctions. Other sanctioned countries, such as Cuba and Syria, were able to transact as well.