From Sam Bankman-Fried to Du Quoin: Cryptocurrency crushed by the law.

In 2022, BankmanFried himself had $24 billion in equity, according to a Forbes estimate.

Seoul, South Korea: Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has become the most influential person in the world of cryptocurrency, falling victim to a two-year period of chaos even by the standards of the famously volatile industry. Zhao stepped down as CEO of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, after he and the company pleaded guilty to U.S. charges of systematic money laundering and agreed to pay a fine of more than $4 billion.

The three most notable crypto industry CEOs who have broken the law since last year.

Zhao Changpeng '\'CZ'\' was born in China in 1977, Zhao moved with his family to''Canada in the 1980s and later earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from McGill University, according to his profile in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He founded Binance in Shanghai in 2017 and has led the company's explosive growth into the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. RELATED PROFILE Typical of the crypto world with 8.7 million followers, Zhao has become the richest known face in this new industry. Forbes estimates that his fortune will peak at around $65 billion in 2022. With status and wealth came increased scrutiny of Binance's operations, as major crypto firms around the world began to surrender under pressure from waves of criminal investigations. The U.S. has accused Zhao and Binance of multiple violations, including knowingly allowing''s deals with terrorist groups such as the Islamic State, as well as in forbidden countries such as North Korea and Iran. On Tuesday, they pleaded guilty. The company agreed to total fines of nearly $4.4 billion, while Zhao will pay $50 million, according to court documents. Zhao resigned as CEO of Binance, and while he will reportedly retain his shares in the company, he will be banned from participating in its operations. The punishment is expected to be determined at a later date. According to Forbes, his fortune is $10.2 billion as of today.

If Zhao was the richest and most powerful man in crypto, Sam Bankman-Fried was quite famous.

Born into a family of professors'.

Do Kwon

South Korean entrepreneur Do Kwon co-founded Terraform Labs in 2018 with others, developing the cryptocurrencies TerraUSD and Luna. He successfully promoted them as the next big thing in the crypto industry, attracting billions in investment and global resonance. Solon's media saves told the story of