Democratic lawmakers are accusing President Donald Trump of political corruption after his controversial decision to pardon former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, reigniting tensions between the White House and Congress over crypto industry influence in U.S. politics.
In a sharply worded letter addressed to Attorney General Pamela Bondi and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a group of Democratic senators, led by Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Chris Van Hollen, Jack Reed, and Mazie Hirono, demanded explanations on how Trump’s pardon could impact future white-collar and cryptocurrency-related prosecutions.
Source: The LetterThe lawmakers said the move “signals to cryptocurrency executives and other white-collar criminals that they can commit crimes with impunity, so long as they enrich President Trump enough.”
Was the CZ Pardon Justice — or a Favor? Lawmakers Want Answers
The letter referenced Zhao’s 2023 guilty plea to federal charges for failing to maintain an adequate anti-money-laundering program at Binance.
The company was ordered to pay more than $4.3 billion in fines after federal investigators concluded it had facilitated transactions linked to sanctioned countries, terrorists, and child exploitation networks.
Zhao himself served four months in prison before being released in mid-2024.
Senators warned that the pardon undermines years of law enforcement work by the Department of Justice, Treasury Department, and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which coordinated the case.
“The pardon publicly and flagrantly undermines the work of the federal law enforcement teams that spent years investigating and prosecuting Binance’s offenses,” the lawmakers wrote.
They called for detailed responses from Bondi and Bessent by November 4, asking whether Trump’s business connections with Zhao influenced his decision.
The outrage follows mounting evidence of deepening financial ties between the Trump family and Zhao’s network in the months leading up to the pardon.
Sen. Warren, Rep. Waters Slam Trump’s Pardon of CZ Amid Stablecoin Scandal
Binance reportedly held discussions with World Liberty Financial, a crypto company launched in 2024 by Trump, his sons, and real estate developer Steve Witkoff, about developing a stablecoin.
In March 2025, World Liberty Financial announced the launch of USD1, a token minted on Binance Smart Chain. Later reports revealed Binance had written the token’s underlying code and promoted it to its 275 million users.
In May, an Emirati firm linked to Witkoff announced a $2 billion USD1 investment in Binance, a deal that reportedly generated tens of millions in potential revenue for Trump’s business interests.
Just months later, on October 23, Trump granted Zhao a presidential pardon.
“This appears to be a clear example of political corruption,” Sen. Warren said last week, accusing Trump of “selling pardons to wealthy allies.”
In a post on X, she added, “CZ pleaded guilty to criminal violations and went to prison. Then he financed Trump’s stablecoin and lobbied for a pardon. If Congress doesn’t stop this kind of corruption, it owns it.”
Representative Maxine Waters also condemned the decision, calling it “an appalling but unsurprising reflection of Trump’s presidency.”
In a statement, she accused Trump of prioritizing “crypto criminals who have helped line his pockets” while Americans face rising living costs and an ongoing government shutdown.
“Trump’s pardon of CZ effectively legitimizes the crypto crime he was convicted of,” Waters said.
Zhao, in response, expressed gratitude for the pardon, saying he would “support U.S. leadership in digital assets” and help “make America the Capital of Crypto.”
He denied directly funding Trump’s stablecoin venture, dismissing media reports as “misinformation” from competitors.
Crypto’s Political Spending Under Fire as Trump’s CZ Pardon Sparks Backlash
The controversy comes amid growing scrutiny of crypto’s role in U.S. politics. In March 2025 the Center for Political Accountability found that cryptocurrency companies spent more than $134 million on the 2024 election cycle, a thirteenfold increase from the previous presidential race.
Much of that money was funneled through Fairshake, a powerful political action committee backed by Coinbase, Ripple, and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which spent over $40 million supporting pro-crypto candidates.
Separately, Federal Election Commission filings show that Trump’s campaign committee, Trump, raised roughly $7.5 million in crypto donations between July and September 2024.
Contributions came in Bitcoin, Ether, XRP, and several stablecoins. Major industry figures, including BTC Inc. CEO David Bailey, Ripple’s Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty, and BitGo CEO Mike Belshe, were among the donors.
Democrats argue that such financial ties have created a dangerous overlap between political influence and regulatory outcomes.
“After Binance and Zhao provided the Trump family with a multi-million-dollar revenue stream, Trump pardoned him,” the senators’ letter stated. “It sends the message that corporate criminals can violate the law and still walk free — as long as they help the President.”
The political fallout is already extending beyond the White House. On Monday, Representative Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) announced plans to introduce legislation banning elected officials from owning or launching cryptocurrencies.
While Trump’s allies have defended the pardon as a necessary correction of what they describe as prosecutorial overreach, the backlash has intensified calls for tighter ethical rules and greater transparency around political donations from the crypto industry.
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