Binance, the world’s largest <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/cryptocurrency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cryptocurrency</a> exchange platform, allegedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/fraud" target="_blank" rel="noopener">commingled</a> user deposits and firm revenue in <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/crime" target="_blank" rel="noopener">violation</a> of financial laws, according to a special <a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/crypto-binance-money/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from Reuters.
The allegations from three former insiders come months after FTX and several other cryptocurrency firms controlled by <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/sam-bankman-fried" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sam Bankman-Fried</a> filed for bankruptcy as customers and investors learned that FTX had commingled funds with sister trading company Alameda Research. Binance, a rival of FTX that had feuded with the company in the weeks before the implosion, allegedly commingled funds on a nearly daily basis in 2020 and 2021, according to three unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
Reuters found one record from Silvergate Bank, a recently defunct financial services company focused on the cryptocurrency sector, indicating that Binance mixed $20 million from a corporate account with $15 million from an account that received customer funds. Binance reportedly funneled revenues into Silvergate Bank through a holding firm in the Cayman Islands, while customer funds entered the financial institution through a separate firm in the Seychelles.
Binance denied the claims about commingled funds in a statement to Reuters. “These accounts were not used to accept user deposits; they were used to facilitate user purchases,” Binance spokesperson Brad Jaffe told the outlet. “There was no commingling at any time because these are 100% corporate funds.”
The allegations come two months after officials at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed civil enforcement <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/regulators-move-against-worlds-largest-crypto-exchange-for-disregard-of-financial-laws" target="_blank" rel="noopener">actions</a> against Binance chief executive Changpeng Zhao for “numerous violations” of financial laws. The regulatory agency alleged that Zhao directed employees and customers to circumvent regulations, failed to require identity verification, and neglected other compliance efforts meant to prevent terrorist financing and money laundering.
Binance, which was previously based in China, has also been investigated by the Justice Department for alleged money laundering and tax infractions.
Actions against the company occur amid a broader <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/paternalistic-and-lazy-regulators-unleash-flurry-of-actions-against-crypto-companies-but-not-all-of-them-are-on-board" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crackdown</a> in the nascent cryptocurrency sector from lawmakers and regulators: Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler recently <a href="https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-25" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> a settlement with cryptocurrency exchange Kraken after the firm failed to register its staking-as-a-service initiative, under which retail investors are compensated for holding certain digital assets, and <a href="https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charged</a> Genesis Global Capital and Gemini Trust Company for raising billions of dollars in cryptocurrency assets through an unregistered offer.
The financial misconduct at FTX allegedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-sam-bankman-fried-weaponized-wokeness-to-dupe-progressive-investors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">enabled</a> Bankman-Fried and his fellow inexperienced executives to purchase lavish tropical real estate in the Bahamas, contribute extensively to Democratic political candidates, and make donations to media outlets.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1684938422021000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2-zHdFAayHoZkU-_PcCeh4">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
Bankman-Fried was initially <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-pleads-not-guilty-allowed-to-conceal-who-is-securing-his-250-million-bond" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charged</a> in December with crimes such as conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the Federal Election Commission through campaign finance violations. Another superseding <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-charges-against-disgraced-ftx-ceo-sam-bankman-fried-revealed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">indictment</a> unveiled in February added four new charges, including conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transfer business. Bankman-Fried was also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-charged-for-allegedly-bribing-communist-chinese-officials" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charged</a> in March with paying bribes to one or more members of the Chinese Communist Party.
The entrepreneur has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-tries-to-get-most-of-the-charges-against-him-dismissed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pleaded</a> not guilty and is attempting to dismiss 10 of the 13 charges.
John Ray III, a bankruptcy lawyer appointed to recover lost funds on behalf of FTX customers and investors, has repeatedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sam-bankman-frieds-ftx-collapsed-over-hubris-incompetence-and-greed-bankruptcy-lawyer-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">contended</a> that the firm imploded as a result of mismanagement from senior executives. “These individuals stifled dissent, commingled and misused corporate and customer funds, lied to third parties about their business, joked internally about their tendency to lose track of millions of dollars in assets, and thereby caused the FTX Group to collapse as swiftly as it had grown,” he wrote in a <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ftx-debtors-release-report-on-ftx-groups-control-failures-301792891.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> about the company’s failure.

Changpeng Zhao

Another Top Crypto Firm Commingled Funds Like Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX Did, Former Insiders Allege

Another Crypto Firm Commingled Funds Like Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX: Report

Crime

Cryptocurrency

Fraud

Sam Bankman-Fried

U.S.

Attorneys who represent former FTX CEO <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/sam-bankman-fried" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sam Bankman-Fried</a> are attempting to dismiss 10 of the 13 charges filed against the disgraced <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/cryptocurrency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cryptocurrency</a> entrepreneur.
Several firms controlled by Bankman-Fried imploded at the end of last year after customers and investors learned that FTX had improperly commingled funds with sister trading company Alameda Research. Lawyers for Bankman-Fried asserted in a Monday court <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.590940/gov.uscourts.nysd.590940.139.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">filing</a> that the original indictment levied against the entrepreneur came from a “classic rush to judgment” and that the case involved “civil and regulatory issues” rather than federal crimes.
“Rather than wait for traditional civil and regulatory processes following their ordinary course to address the situation, the government jumped in with both feet,” the filing asserted. “Each of the charges contained boilerplate recitals of statutory language, followed by literally one sentence purportedly describing the basis for the charge.”
Bankman-Fried was detained in the Bahamas and extradited to the United States in December, nearly one month after FTX collapsed and bankruptcy procedures were initiated. Attorneys contended that officials violated the extradition treaty between the two nations since the Bahamian government issued a warrant of surrender “specifying that he be tried on seven of the eight counts” in the original indictment, even as American officials later brought additional charges without the consent of authorities in the island nation.
Bankman-Fried was initially <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-pleads-not-guilty-allowed-to-conceal-who-is-securing-his-250-million-bond" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charged</a> in December with crimes such as conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the Federal Election Commission through campaign finance violations. Another superseding <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-charges-against-disgraced-ftx-ceo-sam-bankman-fried-revealed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">indictment</a> unveiled in February added four new charges, including conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transfer business. Bankman-Fried was also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-charged-for-allegedly-bribing-communist-chinese-officials" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charged</a> in March with paying bribes to one or more members of the Chinese Communist Party.
Bankman-Fried faces the charges in the Southern District of New York, which often oversees high-profile financial fraud cases. The entrepreneur, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges and currently resides with his parents in northern California, is expected to appear for trial in early October.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1683486652046000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1Nd-Dx1lZd2gjESYliU0yX">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
Lawyers for the entrepreneur meanwhile claimed that the collapse of FTX occurred in the context of broader difficulties in the cryptocurrency sector. “As with a traditional bank run, numerous customers simultaneously sought to withdraw their assets, thus feeding fears that a collapse was inevitable,” the court filing said. “The market crash took down many of the major players in this sector, not just FTX.”
Current FTX CEO John Ray III, a bankruptcy lawyer appointed to recover lost funds on behalf of customers and investors, nevertheless <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sam-bankman-frieds-ftx-collapsed-over-hubris-incompetence-and-greed-bankruptcy-lawyer-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">contended</a> that the firm imploded as a result of mismanagement from senior executives, who reportedly discharged more than $5 billion on imprudent business investments, including advertisements with celebrities such as quarterback Tom Brady and investor Kevin O’Leary.
“Despite the public image it sought to create of a responsible business, the FTX Group was tightly controlled by a small group of individuals who showed little interest in instituting an appropriate oversight or control framework,” the attorney wrote. “These individuals stifled dissent, commingled and misused corporate and customer funds, lied to third parties about their business, joked internally about their tendency to lose track of millions of dollars in assets, and thereby caused the FTX Group to collapse as swiftly as it had grown.”

Sam Bankman-Fried Tries To Get Most Of The Charges Against Him Dismissed

Lawyers For Sam Bankman-Fried Tries To Dismiss Most Of The Charges Against Him

Lawsuit

FTX, the bankrupt <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/cryptocurrency?_gl=1*bmnwjv*_ga*NzUzNDA5ODIxLjE2NzkzMjkzNzM.*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTY4MTE1MTI2Ni44MC4xLjE2ODExNTM4MDIuNTIuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cryptocurrency</a> exchange formerly led by <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/sam-bankman-fried?_gl=1*bmnwjv*_ga*NzUzNDA5ODIxLjE2NzkzMjkzNzM.*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTY4MTE1MTI2Ni44MC4xLjE2ODExNTM4MDIuNTIuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sam Bankman-Fried</a>, collapsed as a result of <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/business" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mismanagement</a> from senior executives, according to an interim <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ftx-debtors-release-report-on-ftx-groups-control-failures-301792891.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from attorneys charged with managing the bankruptcy.
Several companies controlled by Bankman-Fried imploded at the end of last year after customers and investors learned that FTX had improperly commingled funds with sister trading company Alameda Research. John Ray III, who was appointed as chief executive of FTX in order to recover lost funds and reimburse investors, told the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware that “hubris, incompetence, and greed” from executives with minimal experience or qualified oversight caused the collapse.
“Despite the public image it sought to create of a responsible business, the FTX Group was tightly controlled by a small group of individuals who showed little interest in instituting an appropriate oversight or control framework,” the attorney wrote. “These individuals stifled dissent, commingled and misused corporate and customer funds, lied to third parties about their business, joked internally about their tendency to lose track of millions of dollars in assets, and thereby caused the FTX Group to collapse as swiftly as it had grown.”
Lawyers have examined more than one million documents and continue to review financial records from the imploded company, which was headquartered in the Bahamas. Control failures at the firm “created an environment in which a handful of employees had, among them, virtually limitless power to direct transfers of fiat currency and crypto assets and to hire and fire employees” without any “effective oversight” to control the execution of their powers.
Ray, who previously managed the collapse of fraudulent energy company Enron, testified before members of the House Financial Services Committee last year that FTX marked the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lawyer-overseeing-ftx-fallout-never-in-my-career-have-i-seen-such-a-complete-failure" target="_blank" rel="noopener">worst failure</a> of corporate controls he had witnessed in his entire career. He contended that FTX executives, most of whom were in their mid-to-late twenties, had embarked on a “spending binge” and discharged more than $5 billion on imprudent business investments, including advertisements with celebrities such as quarterback Tom Brady and investor Kevin O’Leary.
Bankman-Fried <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-charges-against-disgraced-ftx-ceo-sam-bankman-fried-revealed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pleaded</a> not guilty to a number of charges such as conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Officials in the Bahamas <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/criminal-charges-against-sam-bankman-fried-revealed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arrested</a> the former multibillionaire and sent him to face charges in the Southern District of New York, which often oversees high-profile financial fraud cases.
Beyond using the customer funds to enrich himself, acquire luxury real estate in the Bahamas, and influence the political system through contributions to Democratic entities, Bankman-Fried <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/left-of-center-media-accepted-millions-from-democrat-donor-and-disgraced-crypto-wunderkind-sam-bankman-fried" target="_blank" rel="noopener">donated</a> millions to various media outlets through a nonprofit organization called Building a Stronger Future, which he ran with the help of his brother, Gabe Bankman-Fried, a former Democratic congressional staffer and the director of Guarding Against Pandemics.
Bankman-Fried is currently staying at his parents’ home in northern California. Mark Cohen, a lawyer for Bankman-Fried who previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-hires-attorney-who-defended-epstein-confidant-ghislaine-maxwell" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defended</a> Jeffrey Epstein confidant Ghislaine Maxwell, initially succeeded in requesting that the identities of two unknown individuals who secured his $250 million bond remain sealed. Two months ago, however, court documents <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/court-reveals-identities-of-the-people-who-secured-sam-bankman-frieds-250-million-bond" target="_blank" rel="noopener">showed</a> that Larry Kramer, the dean emeritus of Stanford Law School and president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and Andreas Paepcke, a senior research scientist at Stanford University, were the two individuals who secured the bond.

Crypto Exchange FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried Portraits

Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX Collapsed Over ‘Hubris, Incompetence, And Greed,’ Bankruptcy Lawyer Says

Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX Collapsed Over 'Hubris' And 'Greed,' Bankruptcy Lawyer Says

Business

Officials at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, also known as the CFTC, filed a civil enforcement <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/lawsuit" target="_blank" rel="noopener">action</a> against Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao and three entities with the company for “numerous violations” of the law.
Three business units within Binance, the largest <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/cryptocurrency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cryptocurrency</a> exchange in the world, allegedly chose to “knowingly disregard” portions of the Commodity Exchange Act while “engaging in a calculated strategy of regulatory arbitrage to their commercial benefit,” according to a <a href="https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8680-23" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> from the agency. Zhao allegedly directed employees and customers to circumvent regulations, failed to require any identity verification, and neglected other compliance efforts meant to prevent terrorist financing and money laundering.
“Today’s enforcement action demonstrates that there is no location, or claimed lack of location, that will prevent the CFTC from protecting American investors. I have been clear that the CFTC will continue to use all of its authority to find and stop misconduct in the volatile and risky digital asset market,” CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam remarked. “For years, Binance knew they were violating CFTC rules, working actively to both keep the money flowing and avoid compliance. This should be a warning to anyone in the digital asset world that the CFTC will not tolerate willful avoidance of United States law.”
Binance allegedly advised top clients on how to avoid its own compliance measures, while employees used a communications platform that automatically deleted messages to tell customers about control evasions. Zhao is liable for the company’s violations because of his “long-running failure to act in good faith” in response to the misconduct; former Binance Chief Compliance Officer Samuel Lim was also charged with “willfully aiding and abetting” the violations, such as by encouraging the use of “creative means” to help clients avoid controls.
“The defendants’ own emails and chats reflect that Binance’s compliance efforts have been a sham and Binance deliberately chose over and over to place profits over following the law,” CFTC Enforcement Division Principal Deputy Director and Chief Counsel Gretchen Lowe added. “Today’s enforcement action reflects that the CFTC and its Enforcement Division will pursue those digital asset platforms and individuals who flout and actively attempt to circumvent CFTC regulatory requirements.”
The actions against Binance, which was previously based in China and has been investigated by the Justice Department for alleged money laundering and tax infractions, occur amid a broader <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/paternalistic-and-lazy-regulators-unleash-flurry-of-actions-against-crypto-companies-but-not-all-of-them-are-on-board" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crackdown</a> in the cryptocurrency sector from lawmakers and regulators. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler recently <a href="https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-25" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> a $30 million settlement with cryptocurrency exchange Kraken after the firm failed to register its staking-as-a-service initiative, under which retail investors are compensated for holding certain digital assets. Gensler also <a href="https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charged</a> Genesis Global Capital and Gemini Trust Company for raising billions of dollars in cryptocurrency assets through an unregistered offer.
Increased scrutiny toward companies that deal in cryptocurrencies, which are virtual units of exchange that are not managed by central banks, comes after FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried commingled funds with the exchange platform and sister trading firm Alameda Research. Bankman-Fried, who was a prominent contributor to Democratic campaigns, has been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-pleads-not-guilty-allowed-to-conceal-who-is-securing-his-250-million-bond" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charged</a> with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the Federal Election Commission through campaign finance violations.

Web Summit 2022 – Day One

Regulators Move Against World’s Largest Crypto Exchange For ‘Disregard’ Of Financial Laws

Regulators Move Against Binance For 'Disregard' Of Financial Laws

Former Disney star <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/lindsay-lohan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lindsay Lohan</a> and YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul are two celebrities among several others that face federal charges for illegally touting crypto asset securities from a digital currency entrepreneur.
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced <a href="https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-59">charges</a> Wednesday against crypto asset entrepreneur Justin Sun and three of his companies — Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Ltd., and Rainberry Inc. (formerly BitTorrent) — for the unregistered offer and sale of crypto asset securities Tronix (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT).
The commission accused Sun and his companies of &#8220;orchestrating a scheme to pay celebrities to tout TRX and BTT without disclosing their compensation,&#8221; which included Lohan, Paul, and DeAndre Cortez Way, otherwise known as American rapper Soulja Boy.
Authorities also named musicians Austin Mahone, Miles Parks McCollum (Lil Yachty), Shaffer Smith (Ne-Yo), Aliaune Thiam (Akon), and adult actress Michele Mason (Kendra Lust) in the complaint.
According to the complaint, unregistered offers and sales violate Section 5 of the Securities Act, which requires all issuers to register non-exempt securities with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a news release that such charges demonstrate the high risk investors face when crypto asset securities are offered and sold without proper disclosure.
&#8220;Sun and his companies not only targeted U.S. investors in their unregistered offers and sales, generating millions in illegal proceeds at the expense of investors, but they also coordinated wash trading on an unregistered trading platform to create the misleading appearance of active trading in TRX,&#8221; Gensler said. &#8220;Sun further induced investors to purchase TRX and BTT by orchestrating a promotional campaign in which he and his celebrity promoters hid the fact that the celebrities were paid for their tweets.&#8221;
According to the complainant, the celebrities fraudulently manipulated the crypto market for Sun&#8217;s companies by extensive wash trading, which allegedly involved purchasing and selling securities &#8220;to make it appear actively traded without an actual change in beneficial ownership.&#8221;
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://onelink.to/dwapp" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-441512">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
&#8220;While we&#8217;re neutral about the technologies at issue, we&#8217;re anything but neutral when it comes to investor protection,&#8221; Gurbir S. Grewal, Director of the SEC&#8217;s Division of Enforcement, said.
Grewal called Sun&#8217;s move an &#8220;age-old playbook&#8221; intended to mislead and harm investors, which offers securities without registration and disclosure compliance before manipulating the market for such securities.
&#8220;Sun paid celebrities with millions of social media followers to tout the unregistered offerings, while specifically directing that they not disclose their compensation,&#8221; he said. &#8220;This is the very conduct that the federal securities laws were designed to protect against regardless of the labels Sun and others used.&#8221;
Aside from Soulja Boy and singer Austin Mahone, the celebrities accused of touting Sun&#8217;s crypto scheme have agreed to pay more than $400,000 in interest and penalties to settle the charges. However, the accused has neither admitted nor denied the allegations.
Andrew Brettler, a lawyer for Lohan, told <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/sec-sues-justin-sun-others-over-illegal-crypto-sales-2023-03-22/">Reuters</a> the actress was unaware of the disclosure requirements until last March.
&#8220;From the outset, she cooperated with the SEC&#8217;s investigation and ultimately agreed to disgorge the small amount of money she received and paid a fine to resolve this matter,&#8221; her attorney Andrew Brettler said in an emailed statement to the outlet.
Lawyers for Sun and the others named in the complaint either could not be identified, declined to comment, or did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

Celebrity Sightings In New York City – November 10, 2022

Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul Charged For ‘Touting’ Illegal Crypto Scheme

Lindsay Lohan, Jake Paul Charged For 'Touting' Illegal Crypto Scheme

Economy

Lindsay Lohan

Securities and Exchange Commission

Gov. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/kristi-noem" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kristi Noem</a> (R-SD) vetoed a bill that would have classified a potential <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/federal-reserve" target="_blank" rel="noopener">central bank</a> digital currency as <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/money" target="_blank" rel="noopener">money</a> while excluding <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/cryptocurrency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cryptocurrencies</a>.
Policymakers at the Federal Reserve have considered the adoption of a digital dollar over the last several years. Noem said in a veto <a href="https://governor.sd.gov/doc/HB-1193_Veto-Letter.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> to the <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/south-dakota" target="_blank" rel="noopener">South Dakota</a> House of Representatives that the legislation “opens the door to the risk that the federal government could more easily adopt a CBDC, which then may become the only viable digital currency.”
“At this moment in time, such a government-backed electronic currency has not yet been created,” Noem told lawmakers. “More importantly, South Dakota should not open the door to a potential future overreach by the federal government.”
The <a href="https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/23995/250850" target="_blank" rel="noopener">bill</a> would have defined money as a “medium of exchange that is currently authorized or adopted by a domestic or foreign government.” Lawmakers <a href="https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/23995" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed</a> the measure 49-17 in the House of Representatives and 24-9 in the Senate, both of which are margins that would allow for the overturn of the veto in the two chambers.
Noem added that cryptocurrencies, which are decentralized <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/what-exactly-is-bitcoin-heres-how-the-worlds-largest-cryptocurrency-actually-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener">digital assets</a> that can be transferred between virtual wallets, would not be considered money under the legislation. She asserted that the bill therefore “needlessly” limited freedoms and placed citizens at a “business disadvantage” by discouraging development within the nascent sector.
Opponents of a potential central bank digital currency <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/surveillance-and-control-vivek-ramaswamy-and-tucker-carlson-discuss-china-inspired-push-for-a-central-bank-digital-currency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">assert</a> that such an initiative would render citizens vulnerable to government censorship and surveillance. Unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies, digital assets managed by central banks are not decentralized and are tethered to their analog counterparts. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-fed-chair-says-his-mind-is-open-on-a-digital-dollar" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> two years ago that his “mind is open” to a digital dollar, noting that he was “legitimately undecided” on whether the “benefits outweigh the costs” of central bank digital currencies.
“We would want very broad support in society and in Congress,” he told lawmakers. “It’s a very, very important initiative, and I do think we should ideally get authorization.”
A central bank digital currency would preserve the international role of the dollar while mitigating pitfalls intrinsic to cryptocurrencies such as liquidity risk and credit risk, according to a <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/january-2022-cbdc.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">paper</a> from the Federal Reserve. The central bank recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/federal-reserve-launches-digital-dollar-initiative-days-after-leading-cryptocurrency-firm-goes-under" target="_blank" rel="noopener">conducted</a> a simulation with Citi, Mastercard, BNY Mellon, and other companies to determine the “feasibility of payments between financial institutions” using tokenized assets.
Increased skepticism toward cryptocurrencies comes in the aftermath of FTX and other digital asset companies controlled by Sam Bankman-Fried filing for bankruptcy at the end of last year after customers learned that FTX had commingled funds with trading company Alameda Research. Bankman-Fried pleaded <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-pleads-not-guilty-allowed-to-conceal-who-is-securing-his-250-million-bond" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not guilty</a> to multiple charges, which include conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit campaign finance violations.
Recent tumult in the cryptocurrency sector and the widely publicized criminal proceedings against Bankman-Fried have quickly eroded consumers’ trust in the novel assets: a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/investors-much-more-skeptical-of-crypto-after-brutal-bear-market-ftx-collapse" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey</a> conducted by CNBC and Momentive found that 60% of Americans see the risk of cryptocurrency investments as “high,” while only 10% say the assets carry little or no risk.

Kristi Noem

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem Vetoes Central Bank Digital Currency Bill

Kristi Noem Vetoes Central Bank Digital Currency Bill

Federal Reserve

Money

South Dakota

Former FTX CEO <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/sam-bankman-fried" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sam Bankman-Fried</a> faces four additional charges related to the disgraced entrepreneur’s allegedly <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/fraud" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fraudulent</a> cryptocurrency empire.
Several companies controlled by Bankman-Fried filed for bankruptcy at the end of last year after customers and investors learned that FTX had improperly commingled funds with sister trading company Alameda Research. A superseding <a href="https://assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/rwgEbfGxVG9Y/v0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">indictment</a> unveiled on Thursday adds four new charges, including conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transfer business, to the eight charges to which Bankman-Fried has already pleaded not guilty.
According to the document, the former business leader “falsely represented” his intentions to open a bank account and obtain customer funds for the purposes of trading and market making, as well as knowingly controlled and supervised “an unlicensed money transmitting business affecting interstate and foreign commerce.” The indictment noted that Bankman-Fried sought to “purchase influence over cryptocurrency regulation” at the federal level by “steering tens of millions of dollars of illegal campaign contributions to both Democrats and Republicans.”
Bankman-Fried was previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-pleads-not-guilty-allowed-to-conceal-who-is-securing-his-250-million-bond" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charged</a> with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the Federal Election Commission through campaign finance violations.
The indictment unsealed on Thursday added that some political contributions were “made in the names of others in order to obscure the true source of the money and evade federal election law.” Bankman-Fried donated $39 million primarily to Democratic nominees and political action committees ahead of the 2022 midterm elections after emerging as the second-largest donor for the Biden campaign in the 2020 cycle; he was granted four <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-visited-biden-white-house-four-times-ahead-of-his-arrest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">meetings</a> at the White House with senior advisers in the months before his companies filed for bankruptcy.
Beyond using the customer funds to enrich himself, acquire luxury real estate in the Bahamas, and influence the political system, Bankman-Fried <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/left-of-center-media-accepted-millions-from-democrat-donor-and-disgraced-crypto-wunderkind-sam-bankman-fried" target="_blank" rel="noopener">donated</a> millions to various media outlets through a nonprofit organization called Building a Stronger Future, which he ran with the help of his brother, Gabe Bankman-Fried, a former Democratic congressional staffer and the director of Guarding Against Pandemics. Several media outlets ran favorable coverage for Bankman-Fried in the days after his empire imploded; The New York Times, for instance, posited in one <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/14/technology/ftx-sam-bankman-fried-crypto-bankruptcy.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">article</a> that the alleged fraudster merely had “ambitions” that “exceeded his grasp.”
Bankman-Fried is currently staying at his parents’ home in northern California. Mark Cohen, a lawyer for Bankman-Fried who previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-hires-attorney-who-defended-epstein-confidant-ghislaine-maxwell" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defended</a> Jeffrey Epstein confidant Ghislaine Maxwell, initially succeeded in requesting that the identities of two unknown individuals who secured the bond remain sealed; last week, however, court documents showed that Larry Kramer, the <a href="https://law.stanford.edu/directory/larry-kramer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dean</a> emeritus of Stanford Law School and president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and Andreas Paepcke, a senior research <a href="https://profiles.stanford.edu/andreas-paepcke" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scientist</a> at Stanford University, were the two individuals who secured the bond.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
The academics respectively signed bonds worth $500,000 and $200,000, while Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, the parents of Sam Bankman-Fried and former Stanford Law School professors, also <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23654880/unsealed-ftx-bankman-fried-bond-signed-by-stanford-law-dean-kramer-paepcke-press-unsealed-it-paepcke-here.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">secured</a> the bond with equity in their home. Bankman-Fried, who claimed that his entire multibillion-dollar fortune evaporated after FTX collapsed, was initially denied bail due to the significant flight risk he posed.

New Charges Against Disgraced FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried Revealed

Sam Bankman-Fried Receives Four More Additional Charges

Politics

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/house-republicans" target="_blank" rel="noopener">House Republicans</a> asked for any communications about the arrest of former FTX CEO <a href="https://dailywire.com/topic/sam-bankman-fried" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sam Bankman-Fried</a> sent by officials in the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/securities-and-exchange-commission" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Securities and Exchange Commission</a>.
Bankman-Fried has been charged with several counts of fraud after he allegedly commingled assets between FTX and sister trading company Alameda Research without customers’ knowledge. The entrepreneur was arrested on December 12, hours before he was scheduled to testify before the House Financial Services Committee over misconduct at his firm. Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) and Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI), the top Republicans on the committee, wrote in a <a href="https://financialservices.house.gov/uploadedfiles/2023-02-10_mchenry_huizenga_letter_to_sec_on_sbf_charges_final.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> to SEC Chair Gary Gensler that the “timing of the charges and his arrest raise serious questions about the SEC’s process and cooperation with the Department of Justice.”
Authorities in the Bahamas, where FTX had been headquartered, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-democrat-megadonor-sam-bankman-fried-arrested-in-bahamas-faces-criminal-charges-in-u-s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arrested</a> Bankman-Fried after they were notified that the United States had filed criminal charges against the executive. Current FTX CEO John Ray III, an attorney overseeing the company’s bankruptcy, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/attorney-overseeing-ftx-bankruptcy-testifies-before-congress-grossly-inexperienced-people-ran-company-went-on-5-billion-spending-binge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">testified</a> before Congress in his stead. McHenry and Huizenga asked for “all records and communications” to and from SEC Division of Enforcement Director Gurbir Grewal and other staffers “referring or relating to the charges filed against Sam Bankman-Fried” by February 23.
Bankman-Fried pleaded <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-pleads-not-guilty-allowed-to-conceal-who-is-securing-his-250-million-bond" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not guilty</a> last month to eight charges, which include conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit campaign finance violations. He faces as much as 115 years in prison.
The disgraced mogul’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/officials-charge-sam-bankman-fried-of-using-customer-funds-for-lavish-real-estate-and-large-political-donations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">extensive</a> political connections came to light in the weeks after his company’s bankruptcy, including the $39 million he donated to Democrats ahead of the midterm elections and four <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-visited-biden-white-house-four-times-ahead-of-his-arrest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">meetings</a> he was granted at the White House with senior advisers Steve Richetti and Bruce Reed. Bankman-Fried was also the second-largest donor to the campaign which would eventually grant former Vice President Joe Biden control of the White House.
A previous <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-and-allies-gave-money-to-one-in-three-congress-members-heres-what-they-did-with-it" target="_blank" rel="noopener">analysis</a> of Federal Election Commission data published by Coindesk found last month that 196 of the 535 members of the House and Senate received donations from Bankman-Fried and his associates. FTX announced on Sunday that the company would begin sending “confidential messages to political figures, political action funds, and other recipients of contributions” made by the company’s former executives.
The letter from House Republicans comes shortly after Gensler and other senior regulators unveiled a number of enforcement <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/paternalistic-and-lazy-regulators-unleash-flurry-of-actions-against-crypto-companies-but-not-all-of-them-are-on-board" target="_blank" rel="noopener">actions</a> against cryptocurrency firms. The agency announced that cryptocurrency exchange Kraken would pay a $30 million settlement for failing to register its staking-as-a-service initiative, under which retail investors are reimbursed for holding certain digital assets, while a report revealed that stablecoin issuer Paxos is currently under investigation from the New York Department of Financial Services.
The charges against Bankman-Fried and untold losses from FTX customers have prompted lawmakers to consider new regulations for the nascent industry. Members of the Senate Agriculture Committee recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-commodities-regulator-tells-senators-he-met-with-sam-bankman-fried-10-times" target="_blank" rel="noopener">held</a> a hearing with Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Rostin Behnam on increasing federal oversight of the sector.
“For years many have recognized that a patchwork of federal and state-based regulation is an unsuitable substitute for a comprehensive approach,” the official remarked. “We are here today because many Americans invested in a novel product and will likely lose money because digital asset markets lack the basic protections that we have all come to expect and have made American financial markets the envy of the world.”

Lawmakers Probe SEC Over Strange ‘Timing’ Of Democrat Megadonor, Alleged Fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried’s Arrest

House GOP Probes Top Regulators Over Strange ‘Timing’ Of Sam Bankman-Fried’s Arrest

Congress

House Republicans

Some federal regulators, including <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/securities-and-exchange-commission" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Securities and Exchange Commission</a> Chairman Gary Gensler, have cracked down on a number of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/cryptocurrency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cryptocurrency</a> firms as lawmakers and agencies seek to introduce regulations in the nascent sector.
The SEC announced on Thursday that cryptocurrency exchange Kraken would pay a $30 million settlement for failing to register its staking-as-a-service initiative, under which retail investors are compensated for holding certain digital assets. “Whether it’s through staking-as-a-service, lending, or other means, crypto intermediaries, when offering investment contracts in exchange for investors’ tokens, need to provide the proper disclosures and safeguards required by our securities laws,” Gensler said in a <a href="https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-25" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>.
Coindesk also revealed in a <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/02/09/stablecoin-issuer-paxos-is-being-investigated-by-new-york-regulator/?outputType=amp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> on Thursday that stablecoin issuer Paxos is currently under investigation from the New York Department of Financial Services. The news came shortly after the firm made headlines over rumors that the United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency would ask executives to withdraw their application for a full banking charter.
The moves, according to Fox Business journalist Eleanor Terrett, are the <a href="https://twitter.com/EleanorTerrett/status/1623796900586573826" target="_blank" rel="noopener">beginning</a> of “a myriad of enforcement actions” against cryptocurrency firms in the coming weeks. Prices for Bitcoin have fallen 5.7% over the past week, while prices for Ethereum have fallen 6.5%. Both assets had largely rebounded from declines induced by the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which occurred after customers and investors learned Sam Bankman-Fried, the company’s chief executive, had commingled funds with sister trading firm Alameda Research.
Shares for exchange platform Coinbase have likewise fallen more than 22% over the past week. The company is owned by Digital Currency Group, which also holds investments in Genesis Global Holdco; the company and two of its subsidiaries <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/another-cryptocurrency-firm-goes-bankrupt-as-ftx-fallout-continues" target="_blank" rel="noopener">filed</a> for bankruptcy last month, although Genesis Global Trading and other subsidiaries will continue operations. The insolvency announcement came days after the SEC <a href="https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">charged</a> Genesis Global Capital, one of the two subsidiaries that folded, and Gemini Trust Company for raising billions of dollars in cryptocurrency assets through an unregistered offer.
“We allege that Genesis and Gemini offered unregistered securities to the public, bypassing disclosure requirements designed to protect investors,” Gensler said in another <a href="https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>. “Today’s charges build on previous actions to make clear to the marketplace and the investing public that crypto lending platforms and other intermediaries need to comply with our time-tested securities laws. Doing so best protects investors.”
Gensler’s actions are by no means universally approved within his agency. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, another member of the five-person board which leads the agency, wrote a dissenting <a href="https://www.sec.gov/news/statement/peirce-statement-kraken-020923" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opinion</a> on the Kraken settlement on Thursday. “A paternalistic and lazy regulator settles on a solution like the one in this settlement: do not initiate a public process to develop a workable registration process that provides valuable information to investors, just shut it down,” she wrote.
Recent tumult in the cryptocurrency sector and the widely publicized criminal proceedings against Bankman-Fried have quickly eroded consumers’ trust in the novel assets: a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/investors-much-more-skeptical-of-crypto-after-brutal-bear-market-ftx-collapse" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey</a> conducted by CNBC and Momentive found that 60% of Americans see the risk of cryptocurrency investments as “high,” while only 10% say the assets carry little or no risk.
The actions from the SEC also come as lawmakers consider regulations of their own in the aftermath of the FTX collapse. Members of the Senate Agriculture Committee recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-commodities-regulator-tells-senators-he-met-with-sam-bankman-fried-10-times" target="_blank" rel="noopener">held</a> a hearing with Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Rostin Behnam on increasing federal oversight of the nascent industry, while members of the House Financial Services Committee <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/attorney-overseeing-ftx-bankruptcy-testifies-before-congress-grossly-inexperienced-people-ran-company-went-on-5-billion-spending-binge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">questioned</a> FTX CEO John Ray III on the abuses that had occurred at the company.

SEC Chair Gensler Testifies In Senate Hearing

‘Paternalistic And Lazy’: Regulators Unleash Flurry Of Actions Against Crypto Companies, But Not All Of Them Are On Board

Regulators Unleash Flurry Of Actions Against Crypto Companies

Biden Administration

More than one in three members of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/congress" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Congress</a> accepted campaign contributions from former FTX CEO <a href="https://dailywire.com/topic/sam-bankman-fried" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sam Bankman-Fried</a> and other affiliates of the defunct <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/cryptocurrency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cryptocurrency</a> exchange, and bankruptcy lawyers are finding resistance as they seek to claw back the funds.
Bankman-Fried was arrested and charged with several counts of fraud after allegedly commingling assets between FTX and sister trading company Alameda Research. His <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/officials-charge-sam-bankman-fried-of-using-customer-funds-for-lavish-real-estate-and-large-political-donations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">extensive political connections</a> came to public attention in the weeks after his company’s bankruptcy, including the $39 million he donated to Democrats ahead of the midterms and four <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-visited-biden-white-house-four-times-ahead-of-his-arrest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">meetings</a> he was granted at the White House.
FTX, which is now led by bankruptcy lawyer John Ray III, announced Sunday that the company would begin sending “confidential messages to political figures, political action funds, and other recipients of contributions” made by former FTX executives, according to a <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ftx-debtors-send-messages-to-recipients-of-avoidable-donations-301738948.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a> that warned of legal action against entities which fail to return the payments.
A previous <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/01/17/congress-ftx-problem-1-in-3-members-got-cash-from-crypto-exchanges-bosses/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">analysis</a> of Federal Election Commission data produced by Coindesk concluded last month that 196 of the 535 members of the House and Senate received donations from Bankman-Fried and his associates. Some 34 of the 53 campaigns that responded to the outlet said they would forward the money to various nonprofit causes. They included Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), who donated the contributions to an advocacy group called Fight Corporate Monopolies, and Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), who donated to a crisis pregnancy center.
FTX warned that “making a payment or donation to a third party,” including a charity, would not prevent the company from “seeking recovery from the recipient or any subsequent transferee.” Some 19 of the lawmakers who responded to the inquiries from Coindesk said they were holding the funds until they received guidance on how to return them. Only five lawmakers indicated that they had managed to return the money to FTX.
Some 143 lawmakers did not provide a comment to Coindesk, marking nearly three-quarters of the individual politicians who received donations from Bankman-Fried and his affiliates.
Most of the contributions provided to lawmakers were relatively small. Nishad Singh, the former director of engineering for FTX, donated $2,900 to Nancy Pelosi for Congress, while Ryan Salame, who served as co-CEO, donated a combined $8,700 to Kevin McCarthy for Congress, according to <a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?two_year_transaction_period=2022&amp;min_date=01%2F01%2F2021&amp;max_date=12%2F31%2F2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from the Federal Election Commission. Mark Wetjen, the former Washington adviser for Bankman-Fried and a previous commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, donated $2,900 to Friends of Schumer.
The Senate Majority PAC, which exists to elect Democrats, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/democrats-say-they-will-return-3-million-donated-by-ftx-executives" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> last year that the group would return $3 million donated by Singh and Bankman-Fried. The Democratic National Committee, as well as the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, issued similar commitments.
Attorneys managing the bankruptcy proceedings of FTX announced last month that they have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ftx-bankruptcy-lawyers-reveal-how-much-they-have-clawed-back-for-defrauded-investors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recovered</a> some $5 billion in assets to repay defrauded customers and investors. Bankman-Fried faces charges such as conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the Federal Election Commission and commit campaign finance violations, according to a <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/united-states-attorney-announces-charges-against-ftx-founder-samuel-bankman-fried" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a> from the Justice Department.
The entrepreneur, who could spend as many as 115 years in prison, has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-pleads-not-guilty-allowed-to-conceal-who-is-securing-his-250-million-bond" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pleaded</a> not guilty and is awaiting trial from his parents’ estate in northern California.

Sam Bankman-Fried And Allies Gave Money To One In Three Congress Members. Here’s What They Did With It.

FTX Affiliates Gave Money To One In Three Congress Members. Here's What They Did With It.

Democrats

Republicans

On Monday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/fbi-says-n-korea-related-hacker-groups-behind-us-crypto-firm-heist-2023-01-24/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> that a North Korea-associated hacking group had carried out a robbery of $100 million in cryptocurrency last year.
Harmony’s Horizon <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/article/funds-stolen-in-horizon-bridge-hack-are-laundered-through-tornado-cash" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bridge</a> <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/breaking-harmony-one-s-horizon-bridge-hacked-for-100m" target="_blank" rel="noopener">operates</a> cryptocurrency movements between Harmony and other systems. On June 24, 2022, Harmony’s bridge was hacked and $100 million of virtual funds were taken.
The FBI stated that hackers called the Lazarus Group, also identifiable as APT28, which are connected with North Korea, stole the cryptocurrency.
In a press release, the FBI <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/fbi-confirms-lazarus-group-apt38-cyber-actors-responsible-for-harmonys-horizon-bridge-currency-theft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explained</a> that earlier this month, on Friday, January 13, North Korean hackers utilized RAILGUN, which is a privacy tool, in order to launder ethereum taken last year. The amount laundered came to a worth of more than $60 million.
Some of the money was then delivered to multiple providers and changed into bitcoin, after which some of it was frozen through an effort with the providers. 
The FBI noted that some of its offices, working with other groups, are still finding and interrupting North Korea’s acts of stealing and money laundering of cryptocurrency. It said the criminal actions are utilized in order to prop up North Korea’s Weapons of Mass Destruction and ballistic missile projects.
The FBI added that in the past it published a Cybersecurity Advisory with the Cybersecurtiy and Infrastructure Security Agency, as well as the U.S. Treasury Department. The advisory discussed “TraderTraitor,” a malware effort that was used by North Korea to attack Harmony. 
In June, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/nkorea-may-be-behind-new-100-mln-cryptocurrency-hack-experts-say-2022-06-30/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that hackers from North Korea were probably responsible for the major hack, according to three digital investigative groups. <a href="https://www.elliptic.co/solutions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elliptic</a>, a crypto analysis group, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/nkorea-may-be-behind-new-100-mln-cryptocurrency-hack-experts-say-2022-06-30/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speculated</a> in a report at the time of the cyber attack that Lazarus was responsible. 
“The thief is attempting to break the transaction trail back to the original theft,&#8221; the report said. &#8220;This makes it easier to cash out the funds at an exchange.&#8221;
Last <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/3828420-fbi-accuses-north-korean-hackers-for-100m-crypto-theft/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">year</a>, Anne Neuberger, Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology on the National Security Council, <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/technology/3590126-north-koreas-increasing-use-of-crypto-heists-to-fund-nukes-worries-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> she was “concerned about North Korea’s cyber capabilities.”
“They use cyber to gain, we estimate, up to a third of [stolen crypto] [sic] funds to fund their missile program,” she noted.
A few months <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/3584512-hackers-stole-nearly-200-million-from-us-crypto-firm/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">following</a> the Harmony attack, <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/3828420-fbi-accuses-north-korean-hackers-for-100m-crypto-theft/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nomad</a>, another crypto group, reportedly had cryptocurrency — in the amount of $190 million — taken in multiple incidents. 
The Treasury Department <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/15/ronin-hack-north-korea-linked-to-615-million-crypto-heist-us-says.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">took</a> <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-sanctions/recent-actions/20220414" target="_blank" rel="noopener">action</a> last year to place fresh sanctions on a wallet of the Lazarus Group. Crypto analysts reportedly said that the wallet had resources connected to an attack where cryptocurrency was taken in the amount of over $600 million.

Juche Tower and Workers’ Party monument in Pyongyang, North Korea

FBI Announces North Korea-Associated Hackers Responsible For $100 Million Virtual Robbery

Global Politics

Hackers

North Korea

United States

World

Robert Belfer, an oil entrepreneur and the patriarch of the elite Belfer family, lost money during the bankruptcy of cryptocurrency platform <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/sam-bankman-fried" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FTX</a> years after he suffered hits from the collapse of fraudulent energy company Enron and the Ponzi scheme led by Bernie Madoff.
Court documents show that investment funds linked to the Belfer family were included in a list of shareholders for FTX, the fraudulent digital asset company led by 30-year-old Sam Bankman-Fried, according to a <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/2c70076a-3c59-4183-b4c6-79fb202a8b98" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from Financial Times. Belfer Investment Partners and Lime Partners, both of which are linked to the family, held a combined $34.5 million in the company as of the beginning of last year.
Robert Belfer and his wife, Renée, are philanthropists who have donated heavily to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City; the institution’s Greek and Roman galleries bear the Belfer name, as does the international affairs center at Harvard Kennedy School. Robert Belfer is the son of Arthur Belfer, who moved to the United States from Poland soon after Nazi Germany invaded the country. He imported feathers for pillows and sleeping bags before his company began dealing in foam rubber and petroleum products.
Belco Petroleum Corporation later became a Fortune 500 company and was acquired by a predecessor of Enron, making the Belfer family stakeholders in the company. Robert Belfer served on the board of Enron until 2002, five years before the company was rendered insolvent in a development that cost the Belfers some $2 billion.
The family, down to a net worth of approximately $110 million, had a stroke of luck by withdrawing $28 million from the investment advisory run by Bernie Madoff. The late financier’s Ponzi scheme was discovered shortly after the stock market crash of 2008. Irving Picard, the trustee appointed to claw back funds on behalf of the Madoff victims, filed suit against the family to obtain investments in an attempt to aid other victims, according to a <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/01/16/oil-tycoon-robert-belfer-lost-a-fortune-with-enron-madoff-and-ftx/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from the New York Post. The result of the legal proceedings is unknown.
Bankman-Fried, whose alleged misconduct has often been compared to the Madoff scheme, pleaded <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-pleads-not-guilty-allowed-to-conceal-who-is-securing-his-250-million-bond" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not guilty</a> earlier this month to eight charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Celebrities such as Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady and supermodel ex-wife Gisele Bündchen received combinations of equity and cryptocurrencies as reimbursement for appearing in advertisements and publicly endorsing FTX; they now face a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tom-brady-steph-curry-other-celebrities-sued-for-pushing-ponzi-scheme-ftx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a> accusing them of participating in a “fraudulent scheme” against unsophisticated investors.
FTX collapsed after users learned that their funds were commingled with sister trading firm Alameda Research, which was led by a former love interest of Bankman-Fried. A number of individual users and institutional clients had as much as $8 billion remaining with the company, which Bankman-Fried had attempted to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/former-crypto-billionaire-sam-bankman-fried-whose-entire-fortune-just-went-to-zero-is-calling-around-for-new-investors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">solicit</a> from investors with little success. John Ray III, a bankruptcy lawyer who was appointed to lead the FTX bankruptcy proceedings, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/lawyer-overseeing-ftx-fallout-never-in-my-career-have-i-seen-such-a-complete-failure" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> lawmakers that he had never seen “such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information.”
Bankman-Fried and fellow executives had used the funds to purchase luxury tropical real estate and make sizable political contributions to Democratic candidates. Attorneys have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ftx-bankruptcy-lawyers-reveal-how-much-they-have-clawed-back-for-defrauded-investors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recovered</a> some $5 billion in assets to repay defrauded customers and investors.

Hope on the Horizon Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation Eighth Annual Fall Symposium & Luncheon

Fool Me Thrice: New York Businessman Fell Prey To Enron, Madoff, And FTX Scams

Businessman Fell Prey To Enron, Madoff, And FTX Scams

Menu