CZ Criticizes Lack Of Charges In Bank Of America Case

Changpeng Zhao strongly reacted to the sanction of over $1.21 billion imposed on Bank of America for its failures in anti-money laundering efforts. The founder of Binance mainly points out the lack of criminal prosecutions against the bank’s executives, while he himself had spent four months in prison for an offense related to his platform’s compliance system.

A historic sanction against Bank of America

The U.S. Treasury Department announced on October 13 a series of measures against Bank of America. Authorities blame the second largest bank in the United States for failing to detect, review, and report on time over $5 billion in suspicious transactions.

The case is based on several major failings :

• More than $1 billion involved national security priority risks ;
• Some transactions had possible links to Chinese money laundering networks ;
• Other flows were associated with the U.S. southwest border, fraud, or drug trafficking ;
• The bank allegedly did not properly monitor thousands of billions of dollars of transactions ;
• Problems persisted despite a cease and desist order issued in December 2024.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, set a penalty of $1.2 billion. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency simultaneously imposed a record fine of $750 million.

However, these two amounts should not be added together. The OCC penalty will be deducted from that imposed by FinCEN. A separate $11.6 million agreement was also reached for 475 apparent violations of U.S. sanctions covering Russia, Iran, terrorism, and drug trafficking, among others.

CZ mocks the lack of criminal prosecutions

Changpeng Zhao commented on the case on X, emphasizing the treatment of Bank of America officials. He wrote:

No one went to jail. No house arrest. No deferred prosecution agreement. No one was even charged. Water under the bridge. Onwards!

This statement directly echoes his own legal history. In November 2023, Binance pleaded guilty in the U.S. to multiple offenses, including anti-money laundering laws and economic sanctions rules. The platform agreed to pay over $4.3 billion.

CZ had admitted to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program within Binance. He resigned as CEO, paid a personal fine, and served a four-month prison sentence.

His message therefore suggests the existence of a different treatment between crypto industry leaders and those in the traditional banking sector. However, it alone does not prove legal inequality: the two cases involve different procedures, individuals, and criminal qualifications.

In the Binance case, the Justice Department initiated criminal proceedings and secured Zhao’s personal admissions. The measures against Bank of America have been announced by financial regulators in the context of administrative agreements. No authority has indicated yet that a criminal investigation targeting a bank executive is underway.

Controls deemed “deficient and ineffective”

The U.S. Treasury believes Bank of America prioritized its revenues over its compliance framework. The institution allegedly relied too much on requests from law enforcement or other financial institutions instead of detecting suspicious operations itself.

The OCC describes its anti-money laundering program as “deficient and ineffective”. According to the regulator, the bank has known for years that some alerts were not properly transmitted to internal investigators, without providing sufficient correction.

Bank of America acknowledged willfully breaching certain Bank Secrecy Act obligations as part of the agreement with FinCEN. It will now have to entrust an independent third party with reviewing transactions that may have escaped its systems, then report the suspicious operations discovered.

The bank claims to have invested several billion dollars in its compliance technologies and mobilized thousands of employees against financial crime. “Financial crime compliance is a serious matter, and it is our responsibility to do it right,” the bank said.

A comparison that reignites the debate between crypto and banks

CZ’s intervention goes beyond the Bank of America case alone. It fuels a long-standing debate in the crypto industry: do U.S. authorities impose harsher penalties on digital platform leaders than on top executives of major banks?

However, the bank penalty remains considerable. It is the third largest ever announced by the U.S. Treasury and the heaviest in OCC history. It will also reduce Bank of America’s quarterly profit by about $1.2 billion.

The difference highlighted by CZ therefore concerns less the financial amount than individual responsibility. Despite lasting failures and over $5 billion in suspicious transactions reported late, no Bank of America executive has been charged. It is precisely this gap between institutional sanction and personal consequence that the founder of Binance seeks to bring to the fore in the debate.

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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before taking any investment decisions.