Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng 'CZ' Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison in a Seattle courthouse on Tuesday, the AP reported.

Last November, Zhao stepped down as the chief executive of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange as he pleaded guilty to violating the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Bank Secrecy Act. That plea also led to Binance coughing up about $4.3 billion, resulting in one of the biggest corporate resolutions involving criminal charges for an executive in history.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) had proposed a three-year sentence, while Zhao's defense team had requested no prison time, instead suggesting probation. Zhao's plea deal also included a $50 million fine, which is a small fraction of Zhao's estimated net worth of just under $40 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Prior to the sentencing, prediction market Polymarket had a sentence of less than six months as the most likely outcome of the available options at a likeliness of 41%. The odds of the DOJ's proposed three-year sentence or more were at 6%.

Crypto Enforcement Actions Gain Steam

The past couple years have been dramatic in terms of the legal action taken against a wide range of individuals🍨 and businesses in the crypto industry.

Recently, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraudulent activities during his time at the exchange. Just last week, the founders of non-custodial, privacy-focused bitcoin wallet Samourai Wallet were arrested on money laundering charges.

The U.S💦. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also has a number of ongoing cases related to the proliferation of unregistered s𝓡ecurities offerings and exchanges in the crypto space, including a recent focus on Ethereum.