Senate Democrats pressed leaders of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Department of Justice on how President Donald Trump's recent pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao affects their ability to "hold criminals accountable," arguing in a Tuesday letter that the clemency came after a deal that "enriched" the president.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D.-Mass., along with five other Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., told Attorney General Pam Bondi and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that Trump's decision to issue Zhao a full and unconditional pardon last week "seems likely to encourage, not discourage, illegal activity."

"The pardon — which signals to cryptocurrency executives and other white-collar criminals that they can commit crimes with impunity, so long as they enrich President Trump enough — seems likely to encourage, rather than discourage, criminal activity," said the lawmakers. "This pardon will make it harder for Federal law enforcement to fight and deter crime."

The criticism comes as Senate lawmakers have reportedly returned to efforts to pass a bill to regulate crypto markets, which have stalled amid negotiations and the government shutdown. The House passed its so-called Clarity Act onto the Senate in July, where lawmakers have since been drafting their own proposal. While some senators previously expressed intentions to deliver a crypto market structure bill to the president by year's end, a Senate proposal has yet to progress past the discussion draft stage.

Zhao previously served a four-month prison term after pleading guilty in November 2023 to one count of failure to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program at Binance. His company pled guilty to charges that include Bank Secrecy Act violations, failure to register as a money-transmitting business and allowing users to evade sanctions as part of a historic $4.3 billion deal to resolve a U.S. Department of Justice investigation and enforcement actions from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Trump's decision to pardon Zhao last week wipes out the crypto executive's conviction and could even open the door for him to return to Binance, though he has previously said he has no intention of returning. The pardon does not extend to Binance itself, which remains under a plea-mandated monitorship.

The White House has defended the pardon, saying Trump had "exercised his constitutional authority" and blamed the Biden administration for pursuing Zhao as part of an anti-crypto push.

The lawmakers pointed out in their Tuesday letter that Zhao publicly announced he had applied for a pardon weeks after a business deal involving Binance and the Trump family-affiliated World Liberty Financial. World Liberty Financial announced that its USD1 stablecoin would be used by an Emirati firm to make a $2 billion investment in Binance — a deal that would significantly enrich the Trump family, the lawmakers argued.

"In sum: after Mr. Zhao's company provided President Trump and his family with a revenue stream worth millions of dollars, President Trump pardoned him for criminal activity that he admitted to conducting," they wrote.

They told the Treasury and DOJ that the circumstances surrounding Zhao's pardon "may make your jobs more difficult" by undermining the work of federal law enforcement and signaling to white collar criminals that "the law doesn't matter."

"It appears that corporate criminals can violate the law, be found guilty, and face criminal consequences — but if they or other executives help the President enough, they can be cleared of wrongdoing," they said.

They requested Bondi and Bessent detail what effect the pardon will have on crypto crime, what message it sends to law enforcement officials and whether the reported business ties between Zhao and the Trump family influenced the pardon.

Joining Warren and Sanders on the letter were Sens. Chris Van Hollen, D.-Md., Mazie Hirono, D.-Hawaii., Richard Blumenthal, D.-Conn., Jack Reed, D.-R.I., and Jeff Merkley, D.-Ore.

Zhao said in May that he had never met the president and applied for a pardon through "legal means." That included hiring BakerHostetler partner Teresa Goody Guillén to lobby for "executive relief," according to lobbying disclosures.

The White House declined to comment Tuesday. The Treasury and DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Warren and her colleagues took their conflict criticisms to the Senate floor on Tuesday, where they urged their colleagues to take up a resolution condemning the pardon of Zhao, arguing that both Republicans and Democrats previously raised concerns surrounding Binance.

"Once again, President Trump has shown the American people that he's willing to turn a blind eye to money flowing to terrorists and child abusers, so long as it lines his own pockets," said Warren.

In addition to calling for a resolution condemning the pardon, Warren also urged her colleagues to include provisions preventing similar business dealings in a crypto market structure bill. Democrats in both the House and the Senate have previously called for stronger conflict of interest provisions in the Clarity Act.

Binance did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

In addition to pardoning Zhao, Trump has issued pardons for other crypto figures, including Silk Road operator Ross Ulbricht and the executives of crypto exchange BitMEX, who pled guilty to compliance offenses.

The wife of the hacker who stole bitcoin now worth billions of dollars from crypto exchange Bitfinex and who was convicted for her role in the crime thanked Trump in a social media post this week for "shortening" the 18-month sentence she received for assisting her husband.

Heather Morgan, who also goes by the stage name Razzlekhan, was due to be released in January, Bureau of Prison records show, but her social media feed contains posts celebrating her release, promoting her next music project and depicting her at and around her home.

The White House did not commute Morgan's sentence, according to a source familiar with the matter.

It's not clear what led to Morgan's apparent early release, and her counsel and management did not respond to questions on Tuesday.