After Donald Trump pardoned a billionaire crypto king on Thursday, he claimed that Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was “persecuted” by Joe Biden’s Justice Department as part of what the White House called a “war on cryptocurrency.”

On one level, that assertion was an attempt to explain away a pardon that many see as a naked quid pro quo with a man whose business used Trump’s crypto tokens in a transaction that benefited the president’s family firm.

On another level, observers say, that claim is simply wrong. Zhao willingly pleaded guilty under a carefully negotiated deal with former Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Justice Department, which ultimately saw his company pay $4 billion in fines and serve only four months in prison. At the time, one analyst saw the overall package as a clear “victory” for Binance and Zhao.

There’s a sense of bitter irony for longtime critics of Biden Justice Department. They had long complained in general about Biden’s approach to corporate crime, and Binance in particular was accused of facilitating everything from terrorism to child sexual abuse images before it received a deal that allowed its founder to spend a few months in prison.

“Biden is certainly not anybody to hold up as an exemplar of people ‘persecuting’ people,” said Bart Naylor, a financial policy advocate with the nonprofit group Public Citizen.

Choosing Club Fed

Progressive critics have maintained a drumbeat of criticism of Biden and Barack Obama’s Justice Departments ever since the Great Recession, when top bankers avoided jail........

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