https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/judge-suggests-jail-limit-ftx-founders-communications-97268431
Judge suggests jail to limit FTX founder's communications

The judge noted that Bankman-Fried, according to prosecutors, “has done things that suggests to me that maybe he has committed or attempted to commit a federal felony while on release.”

Kaplan was alluding to a claim by prosecutors that Bankman-Fried sent an encrypted message over the Signal texting app on Jan. 15 to the general counsel of FTX US.

According to prosecutors, the message said: “I would really love to reconnect and see if there’s a way for us to have a constructive relationship, use each other as resources when possible, or at least vet things with each other. I’d love to get on a phone call sometime soon and chat.”

Federal prosecutors have told Kaplan that Bankman-Fried’s communications indicate he may be trying to influence a witness with incriminating evidence against him.

A short period of jail should fix that problem.

 

https://apnews.com/article/technolo...nts-business-ceb821b5cd36052bf146c2119ca7f1dd
FTX’s Bankman-Fried faces new charges in updated indictment

 

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/28/investing/nishad-singh-ftx-guilty-plea/index.html
Former director of engineering at FTX Nishad Singh pleads guilty to criminal charges

Singh was selected to be the face of the left-leaning donations, the prosecutors allege. Bankman-Fried conspired to contribute “at least a million dollars” to a super PAC that was supporting a candidate running for a United States Congressional seat and appeared to be affiliated with pro-LGBTQ issues, the indictment says.

A political consultant working for Bankman-Fried allegedly asked Singh to make the contribution, telling him, “In general, you being the center left face of our spending will mean you giving to a lot of woke sh*t for transactional purposes.”

https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-40
SEC Charges Nishad Singh with Defrauding Investors in Crypto Asset Trading Platform FTX

 

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/202...ve-himself-usd2-billion-of-company-money.html

According to FTX’s bankruptcy court filing, Bankman-Fried got more than $2 billion in loans — primarily through Alameda Research, the hedge fund he founded that lost big on bad investments, then misused customer deposits from FTX accounts in an attempt to cover those losses. Bankman-Fried wasn’t the only executive-roommate to be paid via Alameda: Former director of engineering Nishad Singh got $587 million, co-founder Gary Wang got $246 million, former co-CEO Ryan Salame got $87 million, and former Alameda co-CEO John Samuel Trabucco got $25 million. Caroline Ellison, Bankman-Fried’s ex-girlfriend and ex-CEO at Alameda, was more frugal, receiving just $6 million in loans and payments.

He's steals billion, she gets millions. That ex-girlfriend is going to put him in jail for a long time.

 

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...dealing-arent-fraud-seeks-to-dismiss-charges/
SBF says “dishonesty and unfair dealing” aren’t fraud, seeks to dismiss charges

SBF says US is criminalizing acts of dishonesty
One of the memos supporting Bankman-Fried's motion to dismiss repeatedly paints the FTX founder as being perhaps guilty of lying, but not guilty of violating US laws cited in his indictment.

That memo, for example, concedes that Bankman-Fried and co-conspirators lied on a US bank application to open an account to receive FTX customer deposits after the bank had previously rejected an honest application. But just because the bank "was deprived of the opportunity to conduct 'enhanced due diligence' and executive committee review before opening the account," that doesn't mean that Bankman-Fried committed bank fraud, his lawyers argued. To find him guilty of bank fraud, the US would have to prove that Bankman-Fried either deprived the bank of “moneys, funds, credits, assets, securities” or caused banks to risk suffering "economic harm" from losing the "right to control" access to its bank accounts, lawyers argued.

The same argument, lawyers wrote, applies to allegations that "Bankman-Fried engaged in a scheme to defraud Alameda’s lenders by providing them false and misleading information regarding Alameda’s financial condition" or wire fraud allegations that he "misused FTX customer funds by providing improper loans to Alameda."

"Simply making a false statement, by itself, does not constitute wire fraud unless it is made for the purpose of obtaining money or property from the victim of the fraud," Bankman-Fried's lawyers wrote..

 

https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/05/s...lleged-mishandling-funds-lying-to-regulators/
SEC sues Binance and CEO Zhao over alleged mishandling funds, lying to regulators

The filing states that in December 2018, Samuel Lim, Binance’s CCO at the time, said to another compliance officer, “we are operating as a fking unlicensed securities exchange in the USA bro.”

The charges also included misleading investors about Binance’s systems to detect and control manipulative trading; regulators say that the exchange didn’t take proper steps to restrict U.S.-based investors from accessing its platform. The SEC also alleges that cryptocurrency BNB and stablecoin BUSD are securities.


“Today’s action is another in a line of examples where, as with other crypto projects facing similar suits, the Commission has determined to regulate with the blunt weapons of enforcement and litigation rather than the thoughtful, nuanced approach demanded by this dynamic and complex technology,” Binance stated in its blog post. “Unilaterally labeling certain tokens and services as securities – even ones over which other U.S. authorities have asserted jurisdiction – only compounds these problems.”

The SEC claimed that the operation was part of Binance and Zhao’s plan to “shield themselves from U.S. regulation.”

“We allege that Zhao and the Binance entities not only knew the rules of the road, but they also consciously chose to evade them and put their customers and investors at risk,” Gurbir S. Grewal, director of the SEC’s enforcement division, said in a statement.

 

https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/05/atomic_wallet_stolen_crypto/
Crypto catastrophe strikes some Atomic Wallet users, over $35M thought stolen

"Nothing on my system was compromised, I never run any suspicious software, and I have been having Malwarebytes installed for years," they wrote. "I've lost literally all my money and went broke in a split second, as I kept all my money in crypto."

Another said their wallet had also been cleaned out and Bitcoin assets transferred out of their wallet 20 minutes before they checked. Yet another claimed their assets were stolen and sent to other wallets despite following Atomic Wallet's advice regarding security.

"My wallet phrase is stored on an encrypted USB drive that is stored securely in my apartment, and I didn't tell a single soul of its existence, and it was never touched by anyone but me," they wrote. "Also, I haven't used it a single time because I never had to reinstall the app."

The same user added that "we shouldn't have trusted these multicurrency wallets at all. Our grave mistake. Especially with closed source code."

Your "Kleptocurrency" is gone.

 

https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/05/atomic_wallet_stolen_crypto/
Crypto catastrophe strikes some Atomic Wallet users, over $35M thought stolen


Your "Kleptocurrency" is gone.

Best comment on article:

Oh well
At least nothing of actual value was lost.

 

https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-102

SEC Charges Coinbase for Operating as an Unregistered Securities Exchange, Broker, and Clearing Agency
Coinbase also charged for the unregistered offer and sale of securities in connection with its staking-as-a-service program.

https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2023/comp-pr2023-102.pdf

“We allege that Coinbase, despite being subject to the securities laws, commingled and unlawfully offered exchange, broker-dealer, and clearinghouse functions,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler. “In other parts of our securities markets, these functions are separate. Coinbase’s alleged failures deprive investors of critical protections, including rulebooks that prevent fraud and manipulation, proper disclosure, safeguards against conflicts of interest, and routine inspection by the SEC. Further, as we allege, Coinbase never registered its staking-as-a-service program as required by the securities laws, again depriving investors of critical disclosure and other protections.”

"You simply can’t ignore the rules because you don’t like them or because you’d prefer different ones: the consequences for the investing public are far too great,” said Gurbir S. Grewal, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. "As alleged in our complaint, Coinbase was fully aware of the applicability of the federal securities laws to its business activities, but deliberately refused to follow them. While Coinbase’s calculated decisions may have allowed it to earn billions, it’s done so at the expense of investors by depriving them of the protections to which they are entitled. Today’s action seeks to hold Coinbase accountable for its choices.”

 

 

https://news.yahoo.com/sam-bankman-fried-thrown-jail-192149874.html
Sam Bankman-Fried Thrown in Jail Over Bail Shenanigans

Judge Lewis Kaplan agreed with that assessment. “The defense says he’s gotten bad press and has a right to try to repair his reputation. Fair enough,” Kaplan said on Friday, according to media outlet Inner City Press. “But I find that there is a practical possibility it was intended to have [witnesses] back off.”

The documents shared with the Times, Kaplan added, are “personally oriented, not business oriented. [They are] something that someone who has been in a relationship would be unlikely to share with anyone except to hurt and frighten the subject.”

That woman is going to send him to prison for a long time after this.
https://www.businessinsider.com/sam...ine-ellison-diary-ny-times-prosecutors-2023-7
Sam Bankman-Fried leaked Caroline Ellison's diary to the New York Times to paint her as a 'jilted lover,' prosecutors say

 

Kind of a Very Weird witness tampering case... Disgrace the witness before they even testify by outing them in press publications. Even when you are NOT the author of the articles. Strange... Kinda steps all over the 1st amendment of freedom of speech.

 

Kind of a Very Weird witness tampering case... Disgrace the witness before they even testify by outing them in press publications. Even when you are NOT the author of the articles. Strange... Kinda steps all over the 1st amendment of freedom of speech.

He was charged with a a crime (several) and agreed to pretty nice bail terms that limited his 1st amendment of freedom of speech at his parents house in Stanford, CA instead of maybe Rikers Island.


From jail he can scream all he wants about her and anything else, until his cell mate objects.

Zero simpatico for this clown (and other current clowns in the same predicament) that thinks the law doesn't apply to them.

 

https://www.404media.co/crypto-star...osing-password-to-38-9-million-crypto-wallet/

A buzzy startup offering financial infrastructure to crypto companies has found itself bankrupt primarily because it can’t gain access to a physical crypto wallet with $38.9 million in it. The company also did not write down recovery phrases, locking itself out of the wallet forever in something it has called “The Wallet Event” to a bankruptcy judge.

Prime Trust pitches itself as a crypto fintech company designed to help other startups offer crypto retirement plans, know-your-customer interfaces, ensure liquidity, and a host of other services. It says it can help companies build crypto exchanges, payment platforms, and create stablecoins for its clients. The company has not had a good few months. In June, the state of Nevada filed to seize control of the company because it was near insolvency. It was then ordered to cease all operations by a federal judge because it allegedly used customers’ money to cover withdrawal requests from other companies.

My guess would be that wallet is already empty or will be "mysteriously" accessed and the money taken away years from now.

 

https://www.coindesk.com/policy/202...-of-collapsed-turkish-crypto-exchange-thodex/

Faruk Fatih Özer, the founder of the collapsed Turkish crypto exchange Thodex, his sister Serap Özer and his brother Güven Özer have been sentenced to 11,196 years, 10 months and 15 days in prison, according to local media. A judicial fine of 135 million liras ($5 million approx.) was also imposed.
Thodex was one of Turkey's largest crypto exchanges before it suddenly went offline in April 2021 and Özer went missing. Over 400,000 members were left in the dark without access to deposits of $2 billion in cryptocurrencies. Özer had fled to Albania but was arrested in August 2022 after an Interpol red notice against him.

11,196 years, 10 months and 15 days in a Turkish prison, seems like a just punishment.

 

Those extra 15 days seem a bit harsh. He should appeal.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/robbery-salvadorans-slow-adopt-bitcoin-191002188.html

But two years after El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as its currency, alongside the US dollar, "the goals that were pursued... have not been achieved, people hardly use it, they don't have much trust" in crypto, economist and former Reserve Bank governor Carlos Acevedo told AFP.

"The experiment has not worked, it is a crypto winter," he said.

There are no figures available on how many Salvadorans have taken up Bitcoin.

But a poll conducted in May by the Central American University found that 71 percent believed the cryptocurrency "has in no way helped to improve their family economic situation."

On the streets of San Salvador, the verdict is harsh.

"I don't see that money working, it's just propaganda. Where's the benefit? There's no benefit. It's a bad investment," newspaper vendor Juan Antonio Salgado, 65, told AFP.

"It's robbery," he added, in reference to the currency's volatility.

 

https://news.yahoo.com/robbery-salvadorans-slow-adopt-bitcoin-191002188.html

They have the most to loose, income and economy people who have a lower standard of living won’t believe someone with a pipe dreams.

kv

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/12/cry...20-years-prison-in-4-billion-ponzi-fraud.html

The co-founder of the fraudulent OneCoin cryptocurrency, a massive pyramid scheme that amassed more than $4 billion from millions of investors worldwide, was sentenced Tuesday to 20 years in prison.

Karl Greenwood, 46, who orchestrated the multibillion-dollar multilevel marketing con, pleaded guilty in December to wire fraud and money laundering charges.

His partner, Ruja Ignatova, 43, known as the “Cryptoqueen” on the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted list, remains at large, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

Greenwood “operated one of the largest fraud schemes ever perpetrated,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a press release.

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/ruja-ignatova/@@download.pdf

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $250,000 for information leading to the arrest of Ruja Ignatova.

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/19/sbf...ions-of-dollars-in-misappropriated-funds.html

The suit goes on to allege that as early as 2019, Sam’s father directly participated in efforts to cover up a whistleblower complaint which threatened to “expose the FTX Group as a house of cards.” The filing also details emails written by Bankman in which he complained to the FTX US Head of Administration that his annual salary was $200,000, when he was “supposed to be getting $1M/yr.”

That grievance was ultimately elevated to his son in an email, according to the lawsuit: “Gee, Sam I don’t know what to say here. This is the first have heard of the 200K a year salary! Putting Barbara on this.”

The filing characterizes the correspondence as Bankman lobbying his son to “massively increase his own salary.” Within two weeks, the suit claims that Bankman-Fried had collectively gifted his parents $10 million in funds coming from Alameda, and within three months, the couple was deeded the $16.4 million property in The Bahamas.