Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao was released on Friday, after having served a four-month sentence for failing to implement Anti-Money Laundering (AML) measures between 2017 and 2022.
But Zhao’s case is just one among many that highlight the growing enforcement against crypto crimes. The crypto industry has seen intense legal scrutiny in the past decade, with authorities handing out a combined 272 years of prison time to various industry leaders.
Famous Crypto Founders That Went Behind Bars
The list of jailed crypto kingpins features some of the most prominent figures in the industry, according to Social Capital Markets.
Ross Ulbricht, founder of the Silk Road marketplace, remains the most severely punished, serving a double life imprisonment plus 40 years for charges including money laundering, computer hacking and narcotics trafficking.
His conviction in 2015 set a precedent for how severely the legal system views crypto-related crimes.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, received a 25-year prison sentence earlier this year for fraud and conspiracy.
His conviction followed the collapse of FTX, an event that shook the crypto market and highlighted the vulnerabilities of centralized exchanges.
John McAfee, the software pioneer turned crypto advocate, was arrested in 2021 in Spain for …
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