Binance former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has been moved to an administrative facility in the Greater Los Angeles area, just 38 days before his scheduled release from custody.
According to records from the US Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Zhao is now listed as an inmate under the Residential Reentry Management (RRM) Long Beach field office, which oversees federal offenders in central and southern California.
Zhao, a Canadian citizen known by his initials CZ, pleaded guilty in November to violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). A federal judge sentenced him in April to a term shorter than the three years sought by prosecutors but longer than sentences received by other crypto executives for similar offenses.
Zhao is serving his sentence at Lompoc II, a low-security federal prison in California’s Santa Barbara County. The facility, which houses around 2,160 inmates, offers different conditions from the notoriously harsh New York prison where former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is serving his 25-year sentence.
Zhao began serving a four-month prison sentence on May 31 and his release date is set for September 29.
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The reasons for Zhao’s early transfer to the RRM Long Beach facility remain unclear, but the move may indicate that authorities are preparing to transition him to a residential facility, such as a halfway house, as part of his reentry process.
In November 2023, Zhao resigned as Binance CEO and pleaded guilty to a felony charge as part of a settlement with U.S. authorities. Binance agreed to pay $4.3 billion in civil regulatory penalties, and Zhao is barred from serving as an executive at any cryptocurrency firm in the future.
Before reporting to prison, Zhao indicated plans to work on a writing project while incarcerated. Despite online speculation, there is no evidence suggesting that Zhao was “free” following his transfer, and the BOP website continues to list his release date as September 29.
The sentence makes Zhao, with a net worth of $36.5 billion according to Bloomberg, potentially the richest person ever incarcerated in the United States. He was also fined $50 million and resigned as Binance CEO.
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