Donald Trump

World Liberty Financial

President Donald Trump

United States Representative Maxine Waters strongly criticized US President Donald Trump for his decision to pardon Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao.
<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/trump-pardons-binance-founder-cz-crypto-community-support" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_self">Trump pardoned Zhao on Thursday</a>, saying people told him “what he did is not even a crime.” Waters, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Financial Services, hit back later Thursday, claiming in a <a href="https://democrats-financialservices.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=413889" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">statement</a> that “Trump is doing massive favors for crypto criminals who have helped line his pockets.”
“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,” Waters said. Trump said his decision to pardon Zhao followed “a lot of people” telling him CZ wasn’t guilty.
“It wasn’t a crime; he was persecuted by the Biden Administration,” Trump claimed.
<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/articles/changpeng-zhao-ceo-of-binance" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_self">CZ</a> was given a four-month prison sentence in April 2024 after pleading guilty to one count of violating the US Bank Secrecy Act for failing to maintain an effective Anti-Money Laundering program at Binance. He was subsequently released from custody that September.&nbsp;
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 <img alt="Trump’s CZ pardon draws fury from Maxine Waters over ‘pay-to-play’ crypto ties" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2025-10/019a151e-48b5-773a-be2c-79ec45e1ecd7" title="">
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 Maxine Waters. Source: <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Maxine_Waters_Official.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Wikimedia</a>
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Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/sbf-pardon-odds-rise-12-percent-polymarket" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_self">Polymarket bets that Sam Bankman-Fried gets pardon surge to 12%</a>
<h2 id="waters-disagrees">Waters disagrees</h2>
Waters added that “CZ has spent months lobbying Trump and his family while funneling billions into Trump’s personal crypto company, World Liberty Financial.” According to her, the pardon was a result of those efforts, “and a blatant example of the kind of pay-to-play corruption that Trump and his Administration continue to engage in.”
The statements follow recent reports indicating that <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/articles/who-is-donald-trump" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_self">Trump’s</a> second term in office has coincided with an <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/trump-crypto-empire-reaps-1b-policy-fueled-boom-report" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_self">extraordinary increase in his personal wealth</a>, contributed to by a sprawling cryptocurrency empire built by the president and his family. Those ventures have reportedly generated more than $1 billion in pre-tax profit over the past year.
Trump’s family does not hide this fact. Trump’s son, Eric Trump, even said the family’s actual profits were “probably more.”
Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-execs-trump-ballroom-fundraiser-report" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_self">Crypto execs fork over cash at Trump’s ballroom fundraiser</a>
<h2 id="world-liberty-financial-fares-well">World Liberty Financial fares well</h2>
World Liberty Financial, as cited by Waters, is at the center of this new fortune. The decentralized finance (DeFi) company was founded by Trump’s sons and associates and has <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/trump-world-liberty-financial-token-sale-extended-sold-out-presale" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null">sold billions of dollars</a>&nbsp;in tokens and stablecoins.
Trump <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/trump-reports-57m-crypto-income-from-world-liberty-financial" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null">disclosed $57.4 million</a>&nbsp;in income from his involvement with World Liberty Financial back in June, and last month, his family’s stake in it <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/trump-family-world-liberty-financial-token-unlock" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null">surged to $5 billion</a>&nbsp;after a token unlock. Newer estimates put the family’s earnings from WLFI this year at $550 million.
Magazine: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/trumps-crypto-insider-trading-conflict-of-interest-concerns/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_self">Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions</a>

Trump’s CZ pardon draws fury from Maxine Waters over ‘pay-to-play’ crypto ties

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