Court Denies Coins Founder CZ’s Travel Request Despite Pledging $4.5 Billion Worth of Equity as Security

A judge denied Zhao Changpeng’s (CZ) request to travel to the United Arab Emirates despite offering billions of dollars in shares as security, court documents show.

Zhao Changpeng, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange Coin On, suffered a setback last month when a federal judge denied his request to travel to the United Arab Emirates.

Based on the valuation of CoinSec’s last funding round two years ago, CZ proposed to use his $4.5 billion worth of CoinSec shares as collateral. However, the judge still rejected the request.Whatsminer Miner

Zhao Requests Travel Permission

Last November, Zhao pleaded guilty in Seattle federal court to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program at the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. In response, Coin agreed to pay a $4.3 billion fine related to the case.

Following the guilty plea, Zhao resigned as CEO and sentencing is scheduled for February 23rd. Despite his guilty plea, Zhao remains barred from the U.S. on $175 million bail. His attorneys submitted a letter requesting that Judge Jones allow him to travel to Abu Dhabi for one to four weeks beginning January 4th.

The purpose of the trip is for the hospitalization, surgery, and subsequent rehabilitation of an individual whose identity was redacted in the submitted letter.

Notably, details of the medical procedure were also withheld, and it was emphasized that federal prosecutors had not yet granted Zhao’s request for travel.

Concerns about the risk of departure

Judge Jones recently denied this, having previously denied another request for Cho to travel to the UAE in December. The judge justified the decision by saying Zhao’s “vast wealth” posed a significant risk of absconding. In an order issued Dec. 7, Judge Jones said his family lives in the UAE and he appears to have priority status there.Kas Miner

The judge expressed concern that Zhao had not proved by clear and convincing evidence that he was unlikely to flee if allowed to return to the UAE. Despite the denials, Zhao remains free on no bail, but he cannot leave the United States.

This contrasts with the case of former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky, who was arrested in July and released after posting $40 million in bail. In addition, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was initially allowed to stay at his parents’ home in California after being extradited to the U.S. in 2022, and was later ordered detained on suspicion of intimidating witnesses.