President Donald Trump's family is reportedly in talks to do business with a crypto billionaire as he seeks a pardon on felony charges.
The Wall Street Street Journal reported that Trump's top Middle East negotiator, Steve Witkoff, was heading up the talks to see the deal with crypto exchange Binance go through World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency venture connected to the Trump family and Witkoff.
Binance's billionaire founder, Changpeng Zhao, pleaded guilty in 2023 after his company admitted violating anti-money-laundering requirements. Trump would need to pardon Zhao before Binance can return to the U.S., where it would rival Coinbase in the crypto trading market.
"Binance, whose U.S. arm saw business fall sharply after regulatory actions, began exploring a return to the U.S. market last year around the time of Trump's election win. The company told people it was willing to make a deal with Trump's company and wanted to eliminate its legal problems," the Journal's report said.
"After Trump won, Binance set up a working group under CEO Richard Teng, which included senior legal and compliance staff, to assess options. Executives knew that Zhao's conviction complicated any return, as it would be difficult to sign up new commercial partners in the U.S. with a felon as a majority shareholder."
According to the report, Binance was accused of facilitating "transactions with sanctioned groups, including Hamas and Islamic State, and encouraged U.S. users to obscure their location so the firm could avoid complying with U.S. anti-money-laundering laws."
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World Liberty Financial, the Trump Organization, Binance, and Binance.US all declined to comment.
For his part, Trump has refused to place his assets in a blind trust as other presidents have done.
"The Trump Organization has said it won't do business with foreign governments but didn't rule out pursuing deals with foreign private companies," the Journal noted.
