WSJ claims CZ snitched on Justin Sun in DOJ plea deal. RatZ meme coin?
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has published a report claiming that Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) provided evidence against Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, as part of his plea deal with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The rumor suggests that CZ’s cooperation, after pleading guilty for a violation of the Bank Secrecy Act and Binance’s $4.3 billion settlement, involved giving damning evidence about Sun that will get him implicated in ongoing probes of Binance’s past transactions. But WSJ has a rep for publishing clickbait articles for the sake of attention, typically decried as “fake news,” and there isn’t confirmation on this article yet, too much speculation circulating in the crypto universe.
CZ reacted promptly on X, dismissing the article by the WSJ as “another baseless hit piece” with a smile emoji, indicating that such articles are based on a revenue model where clicks are valued over facts. CZ implied that lobbying by America towards Binance could be the driving force behind the rumor.
Justin Sun, too, came out on X denying the accusation, indicating, “I respect CZ’s contributions to the industry, but these claims are unfounded. Tron remains focused on innovation and compliance.” The response of Sun is professional in denying the allegations without getting himself entangled in controversy.
The report falls under CZ’s broader plea deal, requiring Binance leaders to cooperate with DOJ investigations, such as granting access to transactional records that could be incriminating for persons like Sun. Sun, an old Binance affiliate of CZ, has communicated with Binance through Tron transactions, such as past allegations of wash trading with the TrueUSD stablecoin.
