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☆ Mystery solved! We identified the big chonky ring that Sam Bankman-Fried wore to court.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

On his right ring finger was a big honking metal ring. Indeed, the ring appears to be an MIT class ring, also known as the "brass rat." The beaver design for the MIT class ring, taken from the school's mascot, dates to 1930. The chair of the 2014 ring committee didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment for this story. A representative for Bankman-Fried responded to Insider's request for comment and confirmed Bankman-Fried was wearing an MIT class ring.

☆ FTX's ex-top lawyer is reportedly cooperating with investigators, revealing details about what Sam Bankman-Fried did with customer funds
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Zahra Tayeb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

FTX's ex-top lawyer has cooperated with US agencies investigating the crypto exchange, per Reuters. Daniel Friedberg spoke about how Sam Bankman-Fried used customer funds to finance the FTX empire. FTX's ex-CEO is facing fraud charges, and billions of dollars of customer funds are missing. Since FTX collapsed in November, reports have emerged that billions of dollars in trading customer funds were funneled to Alameda to prop up the crypto hedge fund. FTX's former regulatory chief was willing to share information about the crypto exchange right after it filed for bankruptcy on November 11, the report said.

☆ Elon Musk's lawyers subpoena head of Saudi Arabia's $620 billion wealth fund for Tesla 'funding secured' tweets case
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Investors are suing Elon Musk over an August 2018 tweet where he claimed he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private. Musk's lawyers have subpoenaed Saudi Arabia's top wealth manager to be a defense witness in the upcoming court case. Text messages disclosed in April showed Musk raging at Yasir Al-Rumayyan for not supporting his efforts to privatize Tesla. PIF is a sovereign wealth fund – meaning that it invests on behalf of Saudi Arabia's government. Read more: Elon Musk raged at the head of the Saudi sovereign wealth fund for failing to support his bid to take Tesla private, texts show

☆ Business partners turn on Sam Bankman-Fried
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Last week, as FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was being extradited to the United States from the Bahamas, two of his former business partners pleaded guilty to multiple charges of fraud and conspiracy. “I am truly sorry for what I did,” Ellison told the court. She and Bankman-Fried were close business associates who briefly dated. Bankman-Fried, 30, appeared Thursday in a US courtroom in New York, where a federal judge released him on a $250 million bond. Following his court appearance, Bankman-Fried was spotted in a business class lounge at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

☆ Sam-Bankman Fried to be released on $250 million bail and will be required to stay with parents ahead of FTX trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Sam Bankman-Fried was granted release on $250 million bail at a court hearing Thursday. He will be required to surrender his passport and stay with his parents ahead of a federal trial on a list of charges tied to the failure of FTX. Bankman-Fried will be required to attend a court hearing in California at 10 a.m. Friday, Gorenstein ruled. Another court hearing is scheduled for January 3 in Manhattan, where Bankman-Fried is expected to enter a plea. Criminal allegations against Ellison and Wang, first filed on December 19, were unsealed in court on Thursday morning ahead of Bankman-Fried's court appearance.

FTX co-founder Gary Wang and former Alameda Research co-CEO Caroline Ellison both pleaded guilty to federal charges in the Southern District of New York, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a message Wednesday. Wang pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Ellison pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud, two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The SEC alleges that both Ellison and Wang, in their respective roles at Alameda and FTX, abetted Bankman-Fried in allegedly defrauding FTX customers. Ellison, 28, and Wang, 29, become the second and third individuals to be charged in connection with FTX's multibillion-dollar collapse.

☆ Video gamers sue Microsoft in US court to stop Activision takeover
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Reuters —Microsoft Corp was hit on Tuesday in US court with a private consumer lawsuit claiming the technology company’s $69 billion bid to purchase “Call of Duty” maker Activision Blizzard Inc will unlawfully squelch competition in the video game industry. The private lawsuit also seeks an order blocking Microsoft from acquiring Activision. It was filed on behalf of 10 video game players in California, New Mexico and New Jersey. The proposed acquisition would give Microsoft “far-outsized market power in the video game industry,” the complaint alleged, “with the ability to foreclose rivals, limit output, reduce consumer choice, raise prices, and further inhibit competition.”A representative for Microsoft did not immediately comment on Tuesday. The FTC previously said it sued to stop “Microsoft from gaining control over a leading independent game studio.” The agency said the merger would harm competition among rival gaming platforms from Nintendo Co Ltd and Sony Group Corp.

☆ Appeals court rejects China Telecom bid to reverse US ban
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected China Telecom Corp’s challenge to a Federal Communications Commission order withdrawing the company’s authority to provide services in the United States. A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected the bid by the US arm of China Telecom to reverse the order that took effect in January. The FCC said in 2021 that China Telecom (Americas) “is subject to exploitation, influence and control by the Chinese government.”A lawyer for China Telecom (Americas) did not immediately comment. In 2019, the FCC voted to deny state-owned Chinese telecom firm China Mobile Ltd the right to provide US services and later withdrew US authorizations for several Chinese telecom carriers. China Telecom had argued the FCC violated its rules by refusing to hold a hearing before revoking China Telecom (Americas)’ domestic and international common-carrier authorizations.

☆ Analysis: After a day of courtroom bickering and confusion, SBF is coming home
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The tl;dr version: It seems that SBF’s US lawyers worked out an agreement with Bahamian prosecutors to drop the extradition fight, which would have taken months, if not years, to play out. But SBF’s local defense lawyer, Roberts, said he wasn’t included in that plan, and claimed prosecutors wouldn’t share the US indictment with him. But then he was denied bail in the Bahamas, meaning he wouldn’t be able to fight extradition from the comfort of his luxury home. After a week of that, SBF is ready to face the music on US soil. To be sure, the federal detention facility in Brooklyn where SBF could end up while awaiting trial isn’t exactly the Ritz.

According to a complaint, Wu allegedly sent threatening messages to a person who posted a flier on or near the college campus supporting Chinese democracy. Charging documents allege Wu reported the person to the Chinese government and told them its representatives would “greet” their family members. A photo of Xiaolei Wu posted to his Instagram. @aldimeowu/InstagramWu has been suspended from Berklee College of Music, according to a statement from the school Wednesday night. However, the rising nationalist sentiment is by no means representative of all Chinese students overseas.

CNN —The special master review of evidence seized from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate is no more. Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday formally dismissed the case, which Trump brought to challenge the Mar-a-Lago evidence collection and in which she appointed special master Raymond Dearie, another judge, to make recommendations on whether prosecutors could access evidence. The dismissal of the case now gives the Justice Department full access to tens of thousands of records and other items found among documents marked as classified in Trump’s beach club and private office. The court told Cannon the case must be dismissed and there will be no further proceedings before Cannon in the Southern District of Florida. That critique culminated in a scathing opinion from an appellate court panel – stacked with GOP appointees – that tore apart Trump and Cannon’s rationale for why the special master was necessary.

☆ The Supreme Court agrees to hear a 2nd student-loan forgiveness case next year to decide millions of borrowers' fates
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Supreme Court agreed to hear a second challenge to President Joe Biden's student-debt relief. The challenge was brought by two student-loan borrowers who didn't qualify for the full amount of relief. The department took matters to the Supreme Court, asking it to make the final ruling on the legality of the debt relief. The Supreme Court earlier this month already agreed to take up a separate challenge brought by six Republican-led states that argued the loan forgiveness would hurt their states' tax revenues. The Supreme Court is expected hand down decisions in both cases by next June.

On the surface, Brittney Griner and Viktor Bout are accused of ludicrously different crimes. Bout’s outsized importance to Russia has always been the bigger puzzle. I have seen videos of Bout in the Congo and across Africa, where he was pretty close to the conflicts there. There were suggestions too that he had served alongside senior Russians who are now close to President Vladimir Putin. This is a man who many ordinary Russians may have heard of, and he certainly is of mythological importance to the Russian elite.

Under this doctrine, they contend that the U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures, and not other entities such as state courts, power over election rules and electoral district maps. The Republican lawmakers have argued that the state court unconstitutionally usurped the North Carolina General Assembly's authority to regulate federal elections. 'CONFUSION AND CHAOS'Jason Snead, a conservative elections expert who embraces the doctrine, said the North Carolina case gives the Supreme Court an opportunity to "shut down a lot of the confusion and chaos" occurring around elections. The North Carolina Supreme Court struck down the map on Feb. 4, finding the districts were crafted to dilute the "fundamental right to equal voting power" of Democrats. A lower state court then rejected a redrawn map by Republican lawmakers and adopted one devised by a bipartisan group of experts.

☆ Trump's suggestion that E. Jean Carroll was 'too ugly to rape' was too personal to be official business, appeal says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Ashley Collman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The DC Court of Appeals is deciding whether Trump can be sued for comments about E. Jean Carroll. But Carroll's lawyers argue in their brief, filed Thursday, that previous court rulings show the law is more nuanced. He concocted dark schemes and nefarious motives," Carroll's lawyers wrote in the brief. That is not the law — and this court should not make it so," Carroll's lawyers wrote. Carroll's lawyers want the two cases tried at the same time.

☆ Trump Org hopes to win its Manhattan tax-fraud trial with an 'ignorance' defense — a Trump hallmark
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Summations are Thursday and Friday in the Manhattan tax-fraud trial of the Trump Organization. Star prosecution witnesses with arguably mixed loyalties, the two told jurors they never let anyone named Trump in on the scheme. Jurors may well wonder how Donald Trump, or Eric Trump, or Donald Trump, Jr., could truly have been ignorant of the scheme when the three of them personally signed off on so many of the perks. "Donald Trump didn't know that Allen Weisselberg was cheating on Allen Weisselberg's taxes," as defense lawyer Susan Necheles told jurors in openings. In this trial, though, the ignorance defense goes into overdrive, and doesn't stop with a supposedly clueless Trump.

☆ Elon Musk's war with Apple shows just how much power Tim Cook has over how we all use the internet
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Travis Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Elon Musk is criticizing Apple's App Store policies, and other tech CEOs have voiced support. Now, Musk is loosening Twitter's content-moderation policies and tech observers say Apple could pull it from the App Store, too. (When asked two weeks ago about the possibility of removing Twitter, Apple CEO Cook told CBS News, "They say that they are going to continue to moderate ... Failure to comply with its policies risks Twitter's removal from the App Store, which would undoubtedly harm Twitter's bottom line. Musk is now trying to put Apple in the hot seat, a seat that Tim Cook and Apple have largely tried to avoid.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried spent a fortune. Now, lawyers say 'the emperor had no clothes.' Here's where the money went.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

He spent his money on properties, political donations, and funding sports teams. Here's a list of many of the places where Bankman-Fried is reported to have spent his money. Loading Something is loading. A team of lawyers is now working to track down FTX's assets to start repaying the firm's creditors. Here's a list of how he spent some of his once-massive fortune.

☆ FTX's financial mismanagement comes under the microscope
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN Business —The full extent of FTX’s financial disarray is becoming clearer as the failed crypto exchange’s new management combs for cash as part of the bankruptcy process. FTX, formerly one of the most trusted brands in crypto, filed for bankruptcy earlier this month. The updated figure underscores what FTX’s new chief executive described last week as a total lack of centralized cash controls under the management of Bankman-Fried. The report cited unnamed sources; Genesis didn’t immediately respond to CNN Business’ request for comment. When asked for comment, a BlockFi representative referred CNN Business to the company’s previous statement on its blog, reiterating that there were “a number of scenarios” under consideration.

☆ An appeals court sounded skeptical of Donald Trump's arguments in the Mar-a-Lago records dispute
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

An appeals court panel grilled a Trump lawyer but had few questions for the Justice Department. One judge scolded Trump's lawyer for referring to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago as a "raid." asked Grant, a Trump appointee who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his tenure on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. During Tuesday's arguments, Justice Department lawyer Sopan Joshi likened Trump's arguments to "shifting sands," saying that the former president had initially claimed seized records were subject to attorney-client privilege. At the Supreme Court, he said, Trump's lawyers then argued that the dispute centered on the issue of whether classified documents had been declassified.

☆ Elizabeth Holmes scheduled to be sentenced on Friday
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Rachel Metz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of failed blood testing startup Theranos who was convicted of fraud earlier this year, is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday morning by a judge in court in San Jose, California. The list includes Holmes’ partner, Billy Evans, many members of Holmes’ and Evans’ families, early Theranos investor Tim Draper, and Sen. Cory Booker. Elizabeth Holmes (L), founder of Theranos, and her partner, Billy Evans (R), leave the Robert F. Peckham Federal Building and US Courthouse in San Jose, California, on October 17, 2022. “The effects of Holmes and Balwani’s fraudulent conduct were far-reaching and severe,” federal prosecutors wrote in a November court filing regarding Holmes’ sentencing. “Elizabeth Holmes is never going to run a big company again,” he said.

☆ Texas set to execute man for killing pregnant ex-girlfriend and her son
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

He was condemned for the February 2005 deaths of Lisa Underwood, 34, and her son Jayden. Texas prison officials didn’t formally update their policy but said they would review inmates’ petitions on a case-by-case basis and would grant most reasonable requests. Prosecutors said Barbee killed his ex-girlfriend and her son because he didn’t want his wife to know Underwood was seven months pregnant, presumably by him. Barbee confessed to police he killed Underwood and her son but later recanted. If Barbee is executed, he would be the fifth inmate put to death this year in Texas.

☆ Inside the new database disclosing judicial wealth and potential conflicts, from Justice Neil Gorsuch's $700 cowboy boots to Justice John Roberts' Irish cottage
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Jack Newsham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

One judge disclosed a six-figure investment in cryptocurrency. Those judges' financial lives, and more than 400 others, are laid bare in a new federal database that went live this month. Litigants looking for potential conflicts of interest, and pretty much anybody else, can see what federal judges own, who they owe, what side hustles they have, and what their spouses do. And while private-sector 401(k) plans need to be disclosed, federal employee retirement plans, known as thrift savings plans, don't. It only includes 2021 financial disclosures, and users who want information about previous years' disclosures will have to submit their requests manually.

☆ Election denier loses race in Michigan; Arizona and Nevada not yet called
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Republican candidate for Michigan Secretary of State Kristina Karamo campaigns in Clinton Township, Michigan, U.S. November 4, 2022. Democratic President Joe Biden narrowly won Michigan, Arizona and Nevada in 2020 and Trump and his allies have falsely claimed that the results were fraudulent. As of Wednesday, States Action United said 13 election deniers had won a statewide role in election administration in 9 states, while 24 election deniers had lost races in 17 states. The races in Michigan, Arizona and Nevada are particularly important because they are key battleground states. Ahead of Tuesday's elections, Biden accused Trump of inspiring Republican election denier candidates and warned voters: "Democracy is on the ballot for all of us."

☆ Twitter sees downloads surge in days after Elon Musk took over, hitting an all time high in daily users
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Over the weekend, Twitter saw its most daily active users ever, according to data from Apptopia. In the days since Musk officially took over the platform, average daily downloads of Twitter and daily average usage have increased considerably, according to Apptopia data provided to Insider. Already for November, daily downloads are up 28% compared to October. On Nov. 3, Twitter saw 636,770 daily downloads, the highest since May, and almost twice as many downloads of the app in June. A few days later on Nov 6, Twitter saw another 555,070 downloads, according to Apptopia.

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