Tag Archives: Bitcoin

Bloomberg News reports: In February 2019, Binance Holdings Ltd.’s then-Chief Compliance Officer Samuel Lim acknowledged that the cryptocurrency exchange was being used to funnel money to Hamas, explaining to a colleague that terrorists normally sent “small sums.” That apparently nonchalant attitude caught up with Binance and its chief executive officer, Changpeng Zhao [photo], on Tuesday. In announcing $4.3 billion in …

Bloomberg News reports: Binance Holdings Ltd.’s Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao arrived in Seattle federal court Tuesday to plead guilty to anti-money laundering charges under a sweeping deal worked out with the Justice Department designed to keep the company operating. Zhao agreed to step down as part of the settlement, which included the Treasury Department and the Commodity Futures Trading …

Reuters reports: FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty on Thursday of stealing from customers of his now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange in one of the biggest financial frauds on record, a verdict that cemented the 31-year-old former billionaire’s fall from grace. A 12-member jury in Manhattan federal court convicted Bankman-Fried on all seven counts he faced after a monthlong trial in …

CBS News reports: As a bitcoin mining enterprise, Riot Platforms runs thousands of computers in the energy-guzzling pursuit of minting digital currency. Recently, however, the company got big bucks from Texas to lower the mining operation’s electricity usage. Riot said on Wednesday that the state’s power grid operator paid the company $31.7 million in energy credits in August — or …

Reuters reports: A U.S judge on Friday revoked Sam Bankman-Fried’s bail, after finding probable cause that the indicted founder of the bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange tampered with witnesses at least twice. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan announced the decision at a hearing in federal court in Manhattan, less than two months before the scheduled October fraud trial. He rejected a …

Bloomberg News reports: A British man was sentenced to five years in prison for his involvement in a social media hack that included hijacking Twitter accounts of top US political and business leaders, and for cyberstalking and threatening several individuals. Joseph James O’Connor, 24, pleaded guilty in New York last month to taking part in numerous online schemes, including a …

Reuters reports: U.S. prosecutors on Tuesday unveiled a new indictment against Sam Bankman-Fried, accusing the founder of now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange of conspiring to pay a $40 million bribe to Chinese government officials. The new bribery conspiracy charge adds the pressure on the 31-year-old former billionaire, who now faces a 13-count indictment over the November collapse of FTX. Prosecutors had …

CNN Business reports: The FBI says America has a “pig butchering” problem. And it’s costing victims millions of dollars. “We’re not talking about what’s going on at farms,” said Frank Fisher, public affairs specialist at the bureau’s Albuquerque division. “We’re talking about a cryptocurrency investment scam that is sweeping the country.” The term pig butchering refers to an unsuspecting victim …

Via press release from the SEC: The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Samuel Bankman-Fried with orchestrating a scheme to defraud equity investors in FTX Trading Ltd. (FTX), the crypto trading platform of which he was the CEO and co-founder. Investigations as to other securities law violations and into other entities and persons relating to the alleged misconduct are ongoing. …

ABC News reports: Sam Bankman-Fried, the embattled former CEO of cryptocurrency giant FTX and trading firm Alameda Research, has been arrested in the Bahamas on criminal charges, the Bahamas Attorney General’s Office announced Monday. The arrest “followed receipt of formal notification from the United States that it has filed criminal charges against SBF and is likely to request his extradition,” …

CNBC reports: Distressed crypto firm BlockFi has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey following the implosion of putative acquirer FTX. In the filing, the company indicated that it had more than 100,000 creditors, with liabilities and assets ranging to $10 billion. In the filing, the company listed an outstanding …

Reuters reports: The Golden State Warriors were sued on Monday by an FTX customer who accused the reigning National Basketball Association champions of fraudulently promoting the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange. Elliott Lam, a Canadian citizen and Hong Kong resident, filed his proposed class-action lawsuit in San Francisco federal court on behalf of “thousands, if not millions” of people outside the United …

CoinDesk reports: The beleaguered crypto exchange FTX suffered a $400 million hack over the weekend, and at least one blockchain expert says the clues are point to a high-level insider who committed an amateur misstep that might have inadvertently revealed their identity. The attacker appears to have “had access to all the cold wallet storages which he exploited,” Dyma Budorin, …

Reuters reports: The collapse of FTX is the subject of scrutiny from investigators in the Bahamas, who are looking at whether any “criminal misconduct occurred,” the Royal Bahamas Police said on Sunday. FTX filed for bankruptcy on Friday, one of the highest profile crypto blowups, after traders rushed to withdraw $6 billion from the platform in just 72 hours and …

Reuters reports: At least $1 billion of customer funds have vanished from collapsed crypto exchange FTX, according to two people familiar with the matter. The exchange’s founder Sam Bankman-Fried secretly transferred $10 billion of customer funds from FTX to Bankman-Fried’s trading company Alameda Research, the people told Reuters. A large portion of that total has since disappeared, they said. One …

CBS News reports: FTX Trading on Friday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, capping a sudden and startling downfall for one of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges. Founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried also resigned from the company, which appointed John J. Ray III as its new chief executive. “The immediate relief of Chapter 11 is appropriate to provide the FTX Group …

Just out via press release: Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a new complaint bulletin that highlights complaints the CFPB received related to crypto-assets. Consumers most commonly reported being victimized by frauds, theft, account hacks, and scams. Consumers also had issues with executing transactions and transferring assets between exchanges. Many consumers had issues with accessing funds in their …

From the Justice Department: Earlier today, Jebara Igbara, also known as “Jay Mazini,” pleaded guilty in federal court in Brooklyn to a three count information charging him with wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering. As set forth in the information, up until March 2021, Igbara maintained a popular Instagram account under the name “Jay Mazini,” where he would …

Coin Telegraph reports: The month of October has broken all records for crypto exploits and the amount of digital loot pilfered — living up to its new moniker of “Hacktober” — according to the latest figures. On Oct. 31, blockchain security firm PeckShield tweeted some scary statistics for the month, reporting a total of $2.98 billion in stolen digital assets …

Bitcoin News reports: Data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis shows that October is “the biggest month in the biggest year ever for hacking activity.” The firm added that crypto hackers have grossed over $3 billion across 125 hacks so far this year. Chainalysis wrote: “After four hacks yesterday, October is now the biggest month in the biggest year ever for …