Changpeng Zhao is writing his side of the story. He calls the Justice Department's demands extreme. The draft of his memoir sketches how crypto's richest man went from courtroom negotiations to a four-month jail term and a presidential pardon.

From boardrooms to a prison cell

Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, spent 2023 juggling legal strategies and high-priced lawyers as federal prosecutors pressed what he describes as sweeping claims against his exchange. The Justice Department sought a multibillion-dollar resolution — a demand Mr. Zhao says reached $6.8 billion — and accused Binance of enabling money laundering and terrorist financing tied to customers' activity.

Look, the stakes were enormous.

The draft of Mr. Zhao's memoir, titled Freedom of Money and running roughly 300 pages in the version reviewed by The New York Times, chronicles those talks in granular, often defensive detail. He says he consulted more than a dozen lawyers who sometimes gave conflicting advice, and that he mentally prepared to live as a fugitive rather than accept what he called unreasonable demands from prosecutors. "The D.O.J. Prioritized victory over justice," Mr. Zhao wrote, and he worried officials would "pull tricks" and "screw with me," the manuscript shows.

He ultimately pleaded guilty to a single count tied to anti-money-laundering statutes. A judge sentenced him in 2024 to four months behind bars. President Donald Trump later pardoned Mr. Zhao last fall.

Humbling details and industry jabs

The memoir doesn't read like a corporate press release. Mr. Zhao dwells on the personal side of his fall: the shock of becoming, for a brief time, what he calls the wealthiest inmate in U.S. History; the loss of freedom after years of jetting between world leaders and industry events; and an encounter with Immigration and Customs Enforcement that nearly extended his stay in custody beyond his sentence.

Thing is, he doesn't spare rivals. Mr. Zhao takes pointed shots at Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced FTX founder whose collapse rocked crypto in 2022. He also recounts run-ins with regulators, including Gary Gensler, the former Securities and Exchange Commission chair. At times his tone echoes lines commonly heard in political defenses of corporate figures — a courtroom-versus-political-grudge framing that the manuscript leans into.

Binance's standing makes the narrative. Forbes estimates Mr. Zhao's net worth at more than $60 billion, and Binance remains the largest crypto trading platform by many measures. Even after his conviction, Binance has continued to expand business ties — including a reported relationship with a crypto start-up run by the Trump family — even as the exchange faces fresh scrutiny over whether customers violated sanctions.

Secrets, pardons and what the draft leaves out

The draft offers a rare window into plea discussions that normally take place behind closed doors. Mr. Zhao describes private negotiations with prosecutors, legal wrangling over the size of penalties, and the calculus that led him to accept a single criminal plea rather than go to trial and risk far greater exposure.

But the manuscript isn't an investigative account. It doesn't reveal new documents showing the Justice Department's internal strategy, and it doesn't provide a public accounting of where Binance's money or responsibilities start and end. It also omits detail on Mr. Zhao's campaign for a pardon and on the specifics of Binance's links to the Trump family's venture — topics that have drawn public attention.

Still, the book draft does offer previously unpublished scenes: his brief time in federal custody described with a mix of wry observation and frustration; a confrontation with ICE that almost kept him locked up; and barbs directed at regulators. At one point he wrote he was "appalled" that Mr. Trump faced prosecution over classified documents kept at Mar-a-Lago. "If an employee took company files to read in the bathroom, I would be inclined to give him a bonus," Mr. Zhao wrote.

What this means for Binance and the wider market

Binance's legal troubles have loomed over the broader crypto sector for years. The resolution with the Justice Department in 2024 closed one chapter, but it hasn't erased regulatory scrutiny. U.S. Authorities and foreign counterparts have continued to investigate various aspects of Binance's operations, and the exchange has faced accusations that some customers have used its platform to skirt sanctions.

Right now, Binance has moved to stabilize its business. The company has pursued licensing in several jurisdictions, tightened compliance controls, and publicly pledged cooperation with regulators. But critics and some lawmakers have argued those steps don't fully address systemic problems in crypto trading platforms, where cross-border flows and anonymity can create compliance gaps.

Investors and industry players are watching whether the high-profile settlement alters how other platforms handle compliance, or whether it prompts tougher enforcement that could change how exchanges operate. Mr. Zhao's memoir might be heard as part of that debate — a public attempt to shape his legacy and the narrative around one of crypto's most potent companies.

Memoir as public argument

Publishing a memoir after a criminal plea and a presidential pardon isn't new. But few tech founders have the mix of wealth, influence and legal drama that Mr. Zhao brings to the table. Freedom of Money, at least in the draft seen by The Times, reads as both personal reckoning and public defense. It argues that the government's approach was overreaching and that Mr. Zhao was caught between the demands of compliance and the practical limits of policing millions of users.

And he uses concrete examples to make that point: the size of the monetary demand, the chaotic advice from competing lawyers, and the real fear of being detained while negotiating plea terms. The stories are tightly focused on his perspective. They show him grappling with pride, power and the consequences of running a platform at global scale.

Frankly, the memoir will leave readers with more questions than answers about the wider system that allowed both Binance and FTX to grow so quickly — questions about oversight, enforcement priorities, and how much responsibility rests with company leaders versus the millions of end users.

Next moves and what's public

Mr. Zhao has said on social media that he planned to self-publish Freedom of Money in February or March. The draft reviewed by The New York Times might not be the final version. Binance didn't provide a comment to reporters seeking reaction to the memoir draft.

The legal record is clear on a few things: Mr. Zhao pleaded guilty to one count linked to anti-money-laundering rules, he served a four-month sentence in 2024, and President Donald Trump issued him a pardon last fall. Those details anchor a story that mixes personal narrative with high-stakes legal maneuvering.

Point is, the book will almost certainly be read as an effort to reclaim a narrative after public fall and private bargaining. Whether it changes regulators' views, lawmakers' responses, or investors' instincts remains to be seen — though the manuscript itself offers plenty of fodder for all three groups to chew over.

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"The D.O.J. Prioritized victory over justice," Mr. Zhao wrote.