Lawyers representing former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried in federal court have requested an extension to file a proposal related to his bail conditions. In a Feb. 24 filing with the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Mark Cohen of Cohen & Gressler said the legal team wanted until March 3 to file a proposal for additional bail conditions for Bankman-Fried as well as find a suitable candidate to act as a technical expert in the case. The lawyers agreed to hire an expert following a Feb. 16 hearing discussing the former FTX CEO’s use of …

In a superseding indictment filed with the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on Feb. 22, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams alleged Bankman-Fried’s actions in the matter involving FTX and Alameda warranted 12 charges. According to the indictment, these included: Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud on Customers of FTX Wire Fraud on Customers of FTX Conspiracy to Commit Fraud on Customers of FTX in Connection with Purchase and Sales of Derivatives Fraud on Customers of FTX in Connection with Purchase and Sales of Derivatives Conspiracy to Commit Securities Fraud on Investors in FTX Securities Fraud on …

A fake website of the popular Ethereum Denver conference is the latest phishing target of a red-flagged smart contract that has stolen over $300,000 worth of Ether (ETH). The popular conference saw its website duplicated by hackers this week in order to trick users into connecting their MetaMask wallets. According to Blockfence, which identified the fraudulent website, the smart contract has accessed more than 2800 wallets and has stolen over $300,000 over the past six months. Another day, another scam. This time the scammer targeted the @EthereumDenver website. Blockfence is here to protect you and fight scammers together: The scam …

A complaint filed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission said Terra co-founder Do Kwon and Terraform Labs laundered more than $100 million worth of Bitcoin from the platform following its collapse in May 2022. According to the SEC complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Feb. 16, Kwon and Terraform have transferred more than 10,000 Bitcoin (BTC) from the platform and the Luna Foundation Guard to a cold wallet, then to a Swiss bank account to convert to fiat. The financial regulator said that the Terra co-founder and his company …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, has announced a $1.4-million settlement with former NBA player Paul Pierce for allegedly promoting a token project on social media. In a Feb. 17 announcement, the SEC said Pierce touted EthereumMax (EMAX) tokens through social media channels without disclosing he had received payment for the promotion and made “false and misleading statements” regarding the project. According to the SEC, promoters paid the former NBA star $244,000 worth of EMAX in addition to him posting messages allegedly showing misleading information about profits on Twitter. The financial regulator has previously targeted celebrities promoting …

Crypto scam revenue was slashed by almost half in 2022 due mainly to falling crypto asset prices, but two scam types managed to stay immune. Crypto scam revenue in 2022, which includes investment scams, NFT scams and romance scams, among others, amounted to $5.9 billion in the year — down 46% from 2021. The data came from a Feb. 16 crime report from Chainalysis, which attributed most of the decline in scam revenue to poor market conditions — as lower crypto prices generally result in lower scam performance. Chainalysis however pointed to two different scam types that managed to stay …

Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of crypto exchange FTX may no longer be able to play League of Legends and other video games if newly proposed changes to his bail conditions from United States prosecutors are approved. In a Feb. 15 letter to United States District Judge Lewis Kaplan, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams asked the courts to further expand restrictions surrounding Bankman-Fried’s electronic device usage. They pointed to Bankman Fried’s recent device usage as cause for concern, and agreed with the court’s intuition that it was “shortsighted” by focusing only on apps, adding: “There is now a record before the …

A federal judge has allowed identities of guarantors who signed on sureties for former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s $250 million bond to be made public following a request from several news outlets. Court documents released on Feb. 15 showed that the two previously unidentified individuals were Andreas Paepcke, a senior research scientist at Stanford University and Larry Kramer, a former dean of Stanford Law School. The two signed on as sureties for Bankman-Fried’s bail on Jan. 25 for $200,000 and $500,000, respectively. Eight major news outlets petitioned Judge Lewis Kaplan in a Jan. 12 letter, requesting the court disclose the …

A bi-partisan anti-money laundering (AML) bill that covers “decentralized entities” such as decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols and DAOs will soon be reintroduced to Congress, according to United States Senator Elizabeth Warren. Warren, a vocal crypto critic, argued at the Feb. 14 Senate Banking Committee’s hearing entitled “Crypto Crash: Why Financial System Safeguards are Needed for Digital Assets” that the crypto community wants decentralized entities running on code to be exempt from AML requirements: “In other words, they want a giant loophole for DeFi written into the law so they can launder money whenever a drug lord or a terrorist pays …

Cyber criminals used a variety of novel ways to carry out hacks and exploits in 2022, with over $2.8 billion of cryptocurrency stolen last year. According to a report from CoinGecko using data sourced from DeFiYield’s REKT Database, nearly half of the total crypto stolen in 2022 was fleeced using diverse methods. This includes bypassing verification processes, market manipulation, ‘crowd looting’ as well as smart contract and bridge exploits. The biggest hack of 2022 was carried out through an access control hack. Sky Mavis, the developer behind popular game Axie Infinity, saw its Ronin bridge hacked in March 2022, leading …

A federal judge has reportedly denied oral arguments proposing former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried be allowed to use certain messaging apps. According to a Feb. 9 Reuters report, Judge Lewis Kaplan of United States District Court for the Southern District of New York upheld his ruling that Bankman-Fried be restricted from using encrypted messaging apps as a condition of his release on a $250-million bond. The judge ordered SBF not to communicate using apps like Signal on Feb. 1, but the former CEO’s legal team and prosecutors had negotiated a deal allowing for exceptions including Facebook Messenger, Zoom, and Facetime. …

A federal judge has denied a joint agreement between Sam Bankman-Fried’s legal team and prosecutors which would have allowed the former FTX CEO to use certain messaging apps. In a Feb. 7 filing for United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Lewis Kaplan denied a motion proposing Bankman-Fried be allowed to use messaging services including FaceTime, Zoom, and Facebook Messenger. The judge did not provide a reason for denying the motion "without prejudice", but added the matter would be subject to oral arguments in a Feb. 9 hearing. Prosecutors filed a motion in January suggesting …