Senator Elizabeth Warren fires back at CZ over defamation claims

After Binance founder Changpeng Zhao threatened Senator Elizabeth Warren with a defamation lawsuit, her legal team doubled down.

The crypto industry once again finds itself tied to the increasing divide in U.S. politics. Following Zhao’s unexpected pardon by U.S. President Donald Trump, prominent Democrat politicians are doubling down on their attacks.

On Sunday, November 2, Warren’s legal team dismissed Zhao’s defamation claim. The response comes after CZ’s lawyers sent a demand letter on October 28, objecting to Warren’s X post about his pardon. “CZ pleaded guilty to a criminal money laundering charge and was sentenced to prison,” Warren stated in the post.

Warren has doubled down on her post, stating that Zhao pleaded guilty to money laundering. The court sentenced him to prison, after which Trump pardoned him. As the statements are true, Warren’s lawyers point out, they cannot be defamatory.

“Senator Warren’s post is true in all respects and therefore cannot be defamatory,” wrote Elias Law Group, the firm representing Warren. “All of this is public record, and is plainly what Senator Warren’s X post concerned.”

Trump claims he doesn’t know who CZ is

Zhao pleaded guilty on November 21, 2023, to charges that involved a failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program as the CEO of Binance. Binance was also forced to pay $4.3 billion to U.S. authorities, while CZ had to step down as CEO.

Since the legal exchange, Trump addressed his pardon of Zhao. He claimed that he did not know who he was, but was told by others that CZ was targeted during a “witch hunt” under the Biden administration.

Trump’s claims raised eyebrows due to Binance’s involvement with his crypto businesses. Notably, according to the WSJ, Binance engineers built the core infrastructure for World Liberty Financial’s USD1 stablecoin and helped create demand for it. Namely, Binance requested that the UAE’s sovereign wealth fund make its $2 billion investment in Binance in USD1, which sent USD1’s market cap soaring.