Another crypto CEO sentenced to prison

Conway Gittens brings the latest business news from the New York Stock Exchange as markets close for trading on Monday, May 1.

Related: Fed keeps interest rates steady, hints rate cuts will remain on hold through year end

Full Video Transcript Below:

CONWAY GITTENS: This is Conway Gittens, reporting from the New York Stock Exchange – this is what we’ll be watching today on TheStreet.

Stocks closed today’s session mixed. The Dow closed higher, the Nasdaq closed lower, and the S&P closed lower. This comes as investors digest the Fed’s latest decision; The central bank kept interest rates steady for a sixth straight month, saying the United States was not making enough progress on inflation.

But stocks saw a big rally after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell ruled out a rate hike at the next meeting, easing investors’ fears about longer interest rates.

In other news, just over a month after former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to prison, another former crypto giant is headed behind bars

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who was subject to CZ, was sentenced to four months in prison. The fine stems from accusations that his company engaged in anti-money laundering activities, unlicensed money transfers and sanctions violations.

In a letter to the judge, CZ said: “Words cannot express how deeply I regret the choices that resulted in my appearance before the court. “You can be sure it will never happen again.”

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Binance also agreed to pay more than $4 billion in fines and penalties, and CZ himself agreed to resign as CEO and pay a $200 million penalty.

It was revealed that Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, enables criminals to finance child sexual abuse, narcotic and terrorist activities. The investigation also found that the company did not have a system to report possible money laundering incidents.

However, CZ got off easy compared to his one-time rival Sam Bankman-Fried. In March, SBF was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for his role in FTX’s fraud scheme. Before its collapse, FTX was the second largest crypto exchange after Binance.

This will be enough for your daily briefing; I’m Conway Gittens from TheStreet, New York Stock Exchange.

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