After Donald Trump pardoned a billionaire crypto king on Thursday, he claimed that Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was “ persecuted ” by Joe Biden’s Justice Department as part of what the White House called a “war on cryptocurrency.”

On one level, that assertion was an attempt to explain away a pardon that many see as a naked quid pro quo with a man whose business used Trump’s crypto tokens in a transaction that benefited the president’s family firm.

On another level, observers say, that claim is simply wrong. Zhao willingly pleaded guilty under a carefully negotiated deal with former Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Justice Department, which ultimately saw his company pay $4 billion in fines and serve only four months in prison. At the time, one analyst saw the overall package as a

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