United States Representative Maxine Waters has strongly criticized former US President Donald Trump for his decision to pardon Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao.
Trump pardoned Zhao on Thursday, stating that people told him “what he did is not even a crime.” Waters, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Financial Services, responded later that day with a sharp rebuke. In a statement, she claimed, “Trump is doing massive favors for crypto criminals who have helped line his pockets.”
Waters continued, “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.”
According to Trump, his decision to pardon Zhao followed advice from “a lot of people” who told him CZ was not guilty. “It wasn’t a crime; he was persecuted by the Biden Administration,” Trump asserted.
### Waters Disagrees
Maxine Waters further accused CZ of lobbying Trump and his family for months while funneling billions into Trump’s personal crypto company, World Liberty Financial. She insisted that the pardon was a direct result of these efforts and called it “a blatant example of the kind of pay-to-play corruption that Trump and his Administration continue to engage in.”
These statements come amid recent reports highlighting an extraordinary rise in Trump’s personal wealth during what would have been his second term in office. This wealth increase has been driven, in part, by a sprawling cryptocurrency empire linked to the president and his family.
### Trump Family’s Crypto Ventures
The Trump family’s crypto ventures are reported to have generated more than $1 billion in pre-tax profit over the past year. The family does not shy away from this fact; Trump’s son, Eric Trump, even claimed that their actual profits were “probably more.”
### World Liberty Financial’s Success
World Liberty Financial (WLFI), named by Waters, is at the center of this new wealth. The decentralized finance (DeFi) company was founded by Trump’s sons and close associates. It has sold billions of dollars in tokens and stablecoins, bolstering the family’s crypto fortune.
Back in June, Trump disclosed $57.4 million in income derived from his involvement with World Liberty Financial. In the following month, the family’s stake in WLFI surged to $5 billion after a token unlock. More recent estimates suggest that the family’s earnings from WLFI this year alone have reached approximately $550 million.
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*Related: Polymarket bets that Sam Bankman-Fried gets pardon surge to 12%*
*Related: Crypto execs fork over cash at Trump’s ballroom fundraiser*
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