Binance co-founder CZ expressed surprise regarding his presidential pardon from Donald Trump, maintaining that he has no business connection with the Trump family during a recent interview on Fox News.

CZ noted that he had never met or communicated with Trump before or after receiving the pardon in October, apart from a brief encounter with Trump’s son Eric at a conference in Abu Dhabi.

“There is no business relationship between me, Binance, and World Liberty Finance,” he stated. CZ mentioned that he was unaware of his pardon’s progress:

“I did not know when or if it was going to happen. I believe my lawyers submitted the petition in April, and it took a few months. I didn’t know the progress. There was no indication of how far it went along, etc. Then, it happened one day.”

The pardon has been met with different reactions, with many in the crypto community considering it a triumph against the Biden administration’s anti-crypto stance, while some Democratic lawmakers critiqued the decision as politically corrupt.

In a follow-up statement, Trump noted that he did not personally know CZ but was informed that the case against him had political motives, stating:

“He had a lot of support, and they said that what he did is not even a crime, it wasn’t a crime. He was persecuted by the Biden administration.”

Rep. Maxine Waters accused Trump of engaging in a potential ‘pay-to-play’ arrangement regarding the pardon in exchange for cryptographic investments linked to the Trump family.

The controversy surrounding the pardon led Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders among others to draft an open letter scrutinizing the legitimacy of the decision.