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An alleged scammer with a history of crypto rug pulls has just made $430,000 shilling the SCI6900 token with the help of a post on X from former Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao.  Crypto sleuth “Dethective” recorded the trader, known as @SmokezXBT, buying sums of the memecoin Shanghai Composite Index 6900 (SCI6900) before shilling the token with various other crypto influencers.  They then proceeded to dump their holdings for an hour before the price began to drop. However, they decided to buy some more of the token at 4:44am UTC time.  The timing of this purchase is remarkable, as just over one minute and 34 seconds later, Zhao responded to a post promoting the token, asking, “Is this real?” From there, the market cap of the token shot from $3 million to almost $29 million in 10 minutes . Its price increased by 4,557% over the past 24 hours. Read more: Traders blame CZ for ending BNB memecoin season ZachXBT with the ‘grifter’ receipts ...

The latest FTX-related sentencing saw Caroline Ellison, the former co-CEO of Alameda Research, handed two years behind bars for her role in the exchange’s spectacular collapse. Ellison is expected to be in prison by November 7. Ellison’s sentence was so lenient thanks to her lending the investigation her full cooperation. Indeed, the judge presiding over the case noted that he hadn’t seen a cooperator “quite like Ms. Ellison.” However, he also made it clear that due to the severity of the case, remorse and cooperation aren’t a complete “get out of jail free card.”  She had pleaded guilty to seven counts of fraud and conspiracy and became the third individual involved in FTX’s crimes to be jailed.  Here’s a chart of every indicted FTX and Alameda official sentenced, or waiting to be sentenced.  Caroline Ellison sentenced to two years for FTX-Alameda fraud Read more: Which FTX and Alameda executives are going to prison and when? Collectively, Sam Bankman-Fried, Ryan ...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continues its investigation to uncover proof that Binance.US may have had a backdoor mechanism akin to FTX’s, allowing potential control over customer assets. According to a Nov. 27 report, the SEC is intensifying its investigation into Binance.US over concerns of potential mismanagement of customer assets, a situation reminiscent of the recent FTX controversy. Back in June, the SEC initiated legal action against both Binance and its American counterpart, Binance.US. The charges leveled against them included the alleged sale of unregistered securities. The lawsuit also accused Binance and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, of being involved in a sophisticated conspiracy that included fraudulent activities, conflicts of interest, insufficient disclosure, and blatant disregard for legal regulations. Central to the SEC’s allegations is the claim that Binance.US had discretionary control over customer assets, with funds reporte...

Concluding the third week of Bankman-Fried’s trial , the former general counsel revealed that FTX had a $7 billion shortage in its customer funds. The third week of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraud trial concludes today with the testimony of Can Sun, former General Counsel at the company. Sun explains details of how Bankman-Fried lied to regulators and investors about the treatment of customer funds, and how more than $7 billion in customer deposits were mishandled by the former CEO. Here are the key highlights from today’s session:  Testimony of Can Sun, former General Counsel at FTX Bankman-Fried promised Sun that customer funds were segregated from the company’s expenditures. Sun didn’t approve any customer funds to be loaned to Alameda. Sun unknowingly lied to investors and regulators about the relationship between FTX and Alameda, saying that both companies were separate and had no financial link. Bankman-Fried took a $360 million loan from Alameda, while Sun ...

McLennan County authorities have resolved a lawsuit with Lux Vending’s Bitcoin Depot over the incorrect seizure of $15,000 from a Bitcoin ATM following an elderly woman’s scam incident. In a recent legal episode from McLennan County, authorities have reached a resolution with Lux Vending, trading as Bitcoin Depot, in a case surrounding the wrongful seizure of $15,000 from a Bitcoin ATM. The situation began when an 82-year-old woman from Crawford fell victim to a ransomware scam initiated by a malicious email link. Under the scam’s influence, she withdrew $15,000 in cash and deposited it into a Bitcoin Depot machine. McLennan County investigators, believing they were acting rightfully, secured a warrant and confiscated the funds from the Bitcoin ATM stationed at a Sunoco store, thinking the money exclusively belonged to the elderly victim. However, complications arose when Bitcoin Depot filed a lawsuit against the county. The suit not only claimed that the seizu...

On day 6 of Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial , Caroline Ellison revealed how the defendant forged several balance sheets to defraud lenders and bribed Chinese officials. The second week of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s continues, as former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison testifies how SBF directed her to forge several balance sheets and mislead lenders like Genesis. Today’s session also revealed how the former FTX CEO bribed Chinese officials and tried to initiate a regulatory crackdown on Binance, the major competitor of FTX at that time.  Testimony of Caroline Ellison, former CEO of Alameda Research Assistant US Attorney continued his direct examination of Caroline Ellison today. Here are the key points of her testimony on day six: Alameda had open-ended loans, so the lenders recalled the loans as soon as the market declined in 2022. Genesis wanted back $400 million from their open-term loan. Ellison was stressed out, and had to get that fund from FTX customer funds. SBF told E...

The trial of FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried for a multibillion-dollar fraud case has a diverse jury panel consisting of various professions and backgrounds, including a retired banker, a pediatric nurse, and a special education teacher.  The panel was selected on the second day of the trial in Manhattan after narrowing down from an initial list of 45 candidates.  Each potential juror had 60 seconds to introduce themselves and reveal their background, employment, and personal life details.  One juror was excused after disclosing their employment at a firm with investments in FTX and Alameda Research. District Court Judge Lewis A. Kaplan conferred with both the prosecution and defense teams before announcing the final list of jurors about 15 minutes later. Bankman-Fried faces allegations of diverting billions from FTX customer accounts for speculative trades via the linked hedge fund, Alameda Research.  He is also accused of allocating these funds for ...

On Tuesday, the former CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), appeared in court with his newly appointed lawyer Mark Cohen, and his legal team asked the Bahamian judge Joyann Ferguson-Pratt to release SBF on bail with an ankle bracelet. Amid the lengthy court hearing reports detail that SBF’s parents Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried attended the proceedings. Toward the end of the hearing, judge Ferguson-Pratt denied SBF’s request to be released on bail and remanded Bankman-Fried to the Bahamian jail until Feb. 8, 2023. Bankman-Fried’s Media Tour Comes to an End, AFR Report Claims FTX Insiders Had a Secret Signal Chat Group Called ‘Wirefraud’ During the first week of November, the co-founder of FTX Sam Bankman-Fried’s (SBF) world turned upside down. It all started when Coindesk published an expose on SBF’s quantitative trading firm Alameda Research and the enormous balance of FTT tokens the company held. After the report, FTX and Alameda were under the spotlight and Binance’s...