A federal judge last month rejected a request by Binance founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao to travel to his home in the United Arab Emirates for the "hospitalization and surgery" of a person in his life even though he offered to post his Binance equity as security for his return to the U.S., a new court filing reveals. The equity was worth $4.5 billion, based on Binance's last round of fundraising two years ago, Zhao's lawyers noted in their Dec. 22 letter to Judge Richard Jones, according to a filing Wednesday. Zhao pleaded guilty in November in Seattle federal court to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program at the company, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. Binance agreed to pay $4.3 billion in penalties in the case. Zhao, who stepped down as CEO because of his plea, is due to be sentenced on Fe