Crypto collapse: FTX’s fall is one piece of a long, cold, contagious crypto winter
Crypto collapse: FTX’s fall is one piece of a long, cold, contagious crypto winter
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External Link If you want a friend in the cryptocurrency business, get a dog.At least, that’s what Sam Bankman-Fried seems to have done. The dog is a German shepherd named Sandor, and — unforgivably — Puck’s Teddy Schleifer has not taken a photo for his post.
Yes, SBF is still giving interviews. There isn’t a lot of meat in this one, and not just because dude’s a vegan. But he tells Schleifer that’s he’s planning to battle this all the way out in court.
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External Link Remember the Winklevoss twins?The twin sea gods famously shafted by Mark Zuckerberg? Inexplicably involved in the tech industry despite having dominion over the sea floor?
Anyway they’re beefing with the Digital Currency Group now, Bloomberg says their reputation has been tarnished, and their rock band, The Mars Junction, is the lede of the story. Perhaps they have been cursed, and the only thing that will free them is breaking some magical conch shell, who can say!
Winklevoss Twins’ Gemini Trust ‘Tarnished’ After Crypto Crisis[Bloomberg.com]
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Jan 11, 2023, 3:29 PM UTCEmma Roth
FTX bankruptcy docs show Tom Brady held over 1 million shares in the crypto exchange
Tom Brady and supermodel Gisele Bündchen had almost 2 million shares in FTX combined — and they may not get it back.
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Jan 10, 2023, 12:47 PM UTCJon Porter
Coinbase lays off a fifth of staff as crypto downturn continues
The company plans to let go 950 employees, with its CEO citing a difficult crypto market and ‘the fallout from unscrupulous actors in the industry.’
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External Link Silvergate Capital survived a post-FTX run on deposits, but now the crypto-focused bank’s stock is tanking.Exactly one month ago, Silvergate’s CEO insisted things were ok, despite the problems with FTX, a major customer.
Today its Q4 filing reveals deposits from crypto customers shrank from $11.9 billion to $3.9 billion in three months, $150 million of the bank's deposits are held by customers who’ve filed bankruptcy, and it’s laying off 200 employees.
The company’s stock price is down 46 percent.
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Jan 4, 2023, 4:14 PM UTCEmma Roth
Coinbase fined $50 million over claims it violated anti-money laundering laws
As part of a settlement with New York regulators, the cryptocurrency exchange must also invest an additional $50 million in a compliance program.
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Jan 3, 2023, 10:54 PM UTCMitchell Clark
The Fed, FDIC, and currency comptroller are warning banks about messing with crypto
‘The agencies have significant safety and soundness concerns with business models that are concentrated in crypto-asset-related activities.’
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Jan 3, 2023, 7:40 PM UTCRichard Lawler
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to fraud, money laundering charges
The former crypto billionaire pleaded not guilty to eight criminal charges, with the trial set to begin on October 2nd.
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RWho is helping Sam Bankman-Fried remain free on bail and out of prison?
We may not find out which two parties will “sign separate bonds in lesser amounts” in addition to the $250 million personal recognizance bond co-signed by Bankman-Fried’s parents. SBF’s lawyers are requesting to keep their info private.
That arrangement has allowed the FTX co-founder to stay with his parents in California after being extradited from the Bahamas, although he is due to appear in court in New York City again today at 1:05PM ET. As Bloomberg reports, he is expected to plead not guilty to the many criminal charges he’s facing.
Letter motion in the case of USA v. Sam Bankman-Fried Image: 1:22-cr-00673-LAK -
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Twitter "It wasn't me."According to out-on-bail FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, discussing suspicious transactions on crypto wallets linked to him and FTX / Alameda Research.
We don't know who is moving the funds, but we do know that SBF just can't shut up, apparently even while his former associates are copping pleas for fraud and cooperating with prosecutors.
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External Link The Bahamas seized $3.5 billion in FTX digital assets.The country’s Securities Commission took control of the assets soon after the crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy in the US in November, and the value is based on crypto prices at the time — it’s likely changed significantly since then.
The regulator “determined that there was a significant risk of imminent dissipation as to the digital assets under the custody or control of FTXDM to the prejudice of its customers and creditors,” it said in a Dec. 29 media release. That tracks.
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External Link An incomplete list of current crypto scandals.I think that’s everything for now, but follow our stream for more updates.
Bloomberg digs into the $546 million loan Sam Bankman-Fried used to buy a piece of Robinhood.
CNBC follows $200 million diverted by FTX to invest in crypto companies.
NBCNews looked at North Dimension, a fake electronics retailer that somehow helped SBF redirect money wired in by FTX customers.
Investors in the Winklevoss’ twins Gemini Trust Earn say they were wiped out when it abruptly shut down after FTX folded, and now they’re suing.
And someone leaked API keys for thousands of crypto traders who used a service called 3Commas. CoinDesk reports dozens of users have lost millions in hacks over the last few months, with 3Commas claiming they must have been victims of phishing attacks.
Oh, and the feds are investigating the $372 million in crypto that conveniently went missing just after FTX shut down.
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Twitter If you think about it, bank robbery could be described as a “highly profitable trading strategy.”Reuters reports that authorities in Puerto Rico have arrested Avraham Eisenberg for the October incident referenced in his tweet below.
By his own admission, he used a cryptocurrency protocol for the MNGO token in a way that flattened the Mango Markets exchange, draining $110 million before negotiating the return of $67 million to Mango to make its users whole.
While some might say this is legal because “code is law,” the FBI apparently disagrees. Eisenberg faces charges of commodities fraud and commodities manipulation, which you can read in the now-unsealed complaint (pdf).
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Youtube Y’all remember Razzlekhan?Bloomberg has produced a great mini-documentary on Heather Morgan and Ilya Lichtenstein, a couple accused of attempting to launder billions in Bitcoin from the 2016 Bitfinex hack — crypto scheming that well predates Sam Bankman-Fried and the FTX meltdown.
You may remember Morgan better as Razzlekhan, the name she used to release rap songs about being the “Crocodile of Wall Street,” among many other things. Earlier this year, I listened to all of her publicly-available songs and watched hours of her TikTok and YouTube videos to write an explainer — if you’d like a sample of what my therapist has to hear about, you can read that here.
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Dec 23, 2022, 2:17 AM UTCRichard Lawler
FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried is back in the US, released on $250 million bail
Former executives from SBF’s crypto empire already pleaded guilty to federal charges including fraud and money laundering, but the former billionaire will live in California while the case against him continues.
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Dec 22, 2022, 3:57 AM UTCRichard Lawler and Elizabeth Lopatto
Sam Bankman-Fried’s former friends pleaded guilty and are cooperating in the FTX fraud case
FTX co-founder Gary Wang and former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison are facing up to 50 years and 110 years in prison, respectively.
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Youtube Watch FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s extradition hearing.Reuters has a live stream as proceedings are set to resume in the Bahamas over extraditing the ex-CEO of the failed crypto exchange to the US.
Back home, he’s set to face criminal and civil charges that include fraud and money laundering.
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External Link FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried is reportedly agreeing to be extradited to the US.According to the New York Times, a local lawyer in the Bahamas for FTX co-founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said that against “the strongest possible legal advice,” SBF is ready to voluntarily agree to extradition to the United States.
SBF had reportedly been ready to contest his extradition; even today, it was reported that he wanted to read the indictment before agreeing to extradition.
In the US, he is set to face a long list of criminal and civil charges covering fraud, money laundering, and more.
Sam Bankman-Fried Said to Agree to Extradition After Chaotic Hearing[The New York Times]
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Dec 18, 2022, 11:35 PM UTCEmma Roth
Riot Games says Sam Bankman-Fried’s love of League of Legends hurts the brand
The game developer wants to end its seven-year sponsorship deal with the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange.
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External Link Sam Bankman-Fried’s ready to surrender himself to the US for extradition.According to a report from Reuters, the former FTX CEO no longer plans on contesting extradition to the US, where he’s charged with money laundering and fraud. He’s reportedly set to appear in court in the Bahamas on Monday to waive his extradition rights.
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Dec 16, 2022, 10:14 PM UTCMakena Kelly
Democrats plan to return over $1 million from FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried
SBF donated more than $40 million to political groups over the last three years.
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RApple could open up iOS, and the feds finally make a case against SBF.
This podcast was recorded before Elon Musk’s Twitter ban extravaganza reached its peak, but we dug into the @ElonJets mess. From Apple, we’ll check out the report that it will allow outside app stores on iOS as well as the hole left by a missing M-series Mac Pro in its desktop lineup.
I tried to recap Sam Bankman-Fried’s transition from media tour to handcuffs, and then we talked more about the golden age of streaming and why David Zaslav’s biggest problem might be in his presentation.
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External Link Ryan Salame sang like a canary.Salame, FTX’s former co-CEO, warned Bahamian regulators on Nov. 9 that FTX transferred funds to Alameda Research to “cover financial losses,” according to court filings.
The regulators wrote in the filing:
The Commission understood Mr. Salame as advising that the transfer of clients’ assets in this manner was contrary to the normal corporate governance and operations of FTX Digital. Put simply, that such transfers were not allowed and therefore may constitute misappropriation, theft, fraud or some other crime.
Salame named names, too: only Sam Bankman-Fried, Nishad Singh, and Gary Wang could have done it. FTX filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11 in the US.
Yesterday, Bankman-Fried was charged with money laundering, wire fraud, securities fraud, commodities fraud, and some assorted conspiracy charges.
Affadavit[DocumentCloud]
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TikTok Dec 15, 2022, 12:53 AM UTCRichard Lawler, Makena Kelly and 1 more
SBF is in jail, so what’s going on with FTX and all of the investigations?The Verge policy reporter Makena Kelly gets us up to speed on what’s going on with FTX and its co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
This week both the Senate and the House of Representatives had hearings about the failed crypto exchange. They did not include live testimony from Mr. Bankman-Fried, who has been arrested in the Bahamas ahead of extradition to the US to face a number of criminal and civil charges.
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