U.S. President Donald Trump has granted a pardon to Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, who had been sentenced to prison for the use of the platform by criminals to transfer funds related to child sexual abuse, illegal drug trafficking, and terrorism, reports the Associated Press.

Zhao had previously requested a pardon from Trump. He has close ties to the cryptocurrency company World Liberty Financial, which was launched in September by the U.S. president and his sons, Eric and Donald Jr. Trump’s latest financial disclosure indicates that he earned over $57 million last year from World Liberty Financial, which issued the stable USD1 cryptocurrency (pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar). World Liberty Financial recently announced that an investment fund operating in the United Arab Emirates would use $2 billion from USD1 to purchase a stake in Binance.

Zhao has publicly stated that he requested a pardon from Trump, which could nullify his conviction. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday that the Biden administration involved Zhao in an effort to “punish the cryptocurrency industry.”

She noted that “there were no charges of fraud or identifiable victims,” although Zhao was found guilty in November for a single instance of non-compliance with an anti-money laundering program.