'Fallen Czars of Cryptocurrencies'.

Over the past two years, several of the biggest figures in the world of cryptocurrency have been the target of criminal prosecution. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has become the most influential member of the crypto industry to be "lucky" enough to be at the center of the chaos, even by the standards of this notoriously unstable industry.

Zhao stepped down as CEO of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, after he and the company pleaded guilty to systematic money laundering in the U.S. and agreed to pay more than $4 billion in fines.

The three most prominent cryptocurrency executives who have broken the law since last year:

Zhao Changpeng - 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 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He founded Binance in 2017 in Shanghai and has led the company's explosive growth into the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. Zhao has become a well-known face in the cryptocurrency world and is widely popular with 8.7 million subscribers on X. He became the richest known celebrity in the new industry, with his fortune peaking at $65 billion in 2022, according to the Forbes index. As prestige and wealth grew, so did scrutiny of Binance's operations. Major cryptocurrency companies around the world began to perish under a wave of criminal investigations. The US has accused Zhao and Binance of several''s violations, including knowingly authorizing transactions to support extremist groups such as the Islamic State, as well as violating bans on transactions with North Korea and Iran. The duo pleaded guilty on Tuesday. The company agreed to pay a total fine of close to $4.4 billion, while Zhao will pay $50 million, according to court documents. Zhao has stepped down as CEO of Binance, and while he will reportedly retain his shares in the company, he is banned from participating in its affairs. He faces sentencing at a later date. According to Forbes, his fortune is $10.2 billion as of Wednesday.
Sam BankmanFried - If Zhao was the richest and most powerful man in the world''cryptocurrencies, then Sam Bankman-Fried was the most famous. Born into a family of Stanford University professors, Bankman-Fried graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in physics. In 2019, he founded FTX, which skyrocketed to the second largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. In the process, he became an unofficial ambassador for the cryptocurrency industry with high-profile appearances in the media and even the U.S.

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Congress. At one point in 2022, his fortune was $24 billion, according to Forbes. But he was walking on the edge of a precipice - his team was using client money to buy luxury real estate and cover risky moves for an affiliated company, Alameda Research. It all came crashing down when these actions became publicized in the media in''November 2022. Within hours, KJ Zhao announced that Binance would sell all the FTX tokens they had in stock. This led to the stunning collapse of FTX and the Bankman-Fried empire, his fame turned to infamy. He was arrested in the Bahamas in January and this month found guilty of "one of the largest financial frauds in American history" by the U.S. Attorney's office. He faces up to 110 years in prison. During the trial, this 31-year-old billionaire admitted his "mistakes" but denied trying to defraud anyone.

Do Gwon - South Korean entrepreneur Do Gwon is the co-founder of Terraform Labs, who created the cryptocurrencies TerraUSD and Luna in 2018. He successfully promoted them as the next big trend in cryptocurrency, attracting billions of dollars in investment and worldwide''hype. The media in South Korea described him as a 'genius'. But last May, the value of these currencies - called "stablecoins" - collapsed, wiping out about $40 billion in investments and sending shockwaves through the rest of the industry. This led to more than $500 billion in additional losses in global cryptocurrency markets, industry data says. Experts believe that Do Gwon - also known as Kwon Do-ken - marketed his pyramid scheme. Noisy and brash on social media, Do Gwon fled South Korea before the collapse and spent months on the run. He was arrested in Montenegro this year when he was caught trying to fly out with fake Costa Rican passports. He faces multiple criminal charges in''United States and South Korea.