DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

Bankman-Fried, FTX's founder, pleaded not guilty to eight criminal charges filed against him in December. Bankman-Fried now faces 12 criminal charges after prosecutors unsealed a new indictment against him last week. Singh is the third Bankman-Fried close associate to plead guilty and agree to cooperate with prosecutors. Caroline Ellison, who was Alameda's chief executive, and Gary Wang, who was FTX's chief technology officer, pleaded guilty in December to seven and four criminal charges, respectively. Singh was a close friend of Bankman-Fried's younger brother in high school, Bankman-Fried wrote in a deleted blog post.

☆ Former director of engineering at FTX Nishad Singh pleads guilty to criminal charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Kara Scannell | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —A former top executive of failed cryptocurrency trading platform FTX pleaded guilty and is cooperating with federal prosecutors investigating the alleged billion-dollar fraud at the now collapsed exchange. Nishad Singh, the former director of engineering at FTX, pleaded guilty to six conspiracy charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate federal campaign finances laws. Singh is the third top executive and close confidante of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried to plead guilty and cooperate with prosecutors. Gary Wang, co-founder of FTX, and Caroline Ellison, the former head of FTX’s sister hedge fund Alameda Research, both pleaded guilty last year and are cooperating against Bankman-Fried. New York state election records show Singh made a $107,000 donation to the committee on October 28, 2022.

☆ FTX ex-engineering chief Nishad Singh pleads guilty to criminal charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder of FTX Cryptocurrency Derivatives Exchange, arrives at court in New York, US, on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023. FTX ex-engineering head Nishad Singh pleaded guilty to criminal charges in New York on Tuesday, becoming the latest member of Sam Bankman-Fried's former leadership team to agree to a deal. The six charges against Singh include conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws. In December, Bankman-Fried was charged with eight criminal accounts, including securities fraud and money laundering. Two of the charges against Singh are related to wire fraud and another is conspiracy to commit commodities fraud.

☆ Nishad Singh is the latest member of Sam Bankman-Fried's inner circle to plead guilty in FTX case
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Nishad Singh, who led engineering at FTX, has pleaded guilty to six criminal charges. Singh pleaded guilty to six counts, including wire fraud and various conspiracy charges, according to a filing on Tuesday in New York federal court. Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, and FTX cofounder Gary Wang both pleaded guilty in December and are also cooperating with federal prosecutors. Bankman-Fried, who was hit this month with an updated indictment outlining 12 counts against him, pleaded not guilty in January. Singh had been head of engineering at both FTX and Alameda, according to the SEC's complaint.

☆ Prosecutors say Sam Bankman-Fried helped create a new company with no employees to get round FTX being rejected for a bank account in California
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Prosecutors say FTX.US was denied opening a California bank account as it wasn't a licensed money services business. The low-profile company, called North Dimension, was founded in August 2020 and was previously revealed in other complaints against Bankman-Fried. Thursday's indictment says it also had no employees or business operations other than its bank account. Now, prosecutors say this was an elaborate scheme to defraud a bank and operate an unlicensed money business. "Under Bankman Fried's supervision, employees of Alameda completed an account application that falsely stated that the purpose of the North Dimension bank account was for 'trading' and 'market making,'" the indictment unsealed on Thursday reads.

☆ SBF funneled $100 million in political donations for 'woke shit' and to Republicans through 2 executives to appear bipartisan, prosecutors say in new indictment
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Sam Bankman-Fried put political donations through two FTX execs to appear bipartisan, prosecutors say. An internal Alameda spreadsheet noted over $100 million in political contributions, according to the filing. A CNBC analysis of his political contributions beginning in 2020 found he donated more than $13 million to causes affiliated with the Democratic party. CC-1, prosecutors wrote, ultimately became on-paper "one of the largest Democratic donors in the 2022 midterm elections and helped further Bankman-Fried's political agenda." Bankman-Fried preferred to "keep contributions to Republicans 'dark'," but was the real engine behind CC-2's donations to the GOP, prosecutors wrote.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried deleted a Slack message and tweets after FTX's top lawyer told the company to preserve records for regulators, prosecutors say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sam Bankman-Fried deleted tweets and Signal messages after being told to preserve all records, prosecutors said. He even deleted a Slack post by FTX's general counsel which said FTX would close, prosecutors said. Bankman-Fried disregarded the general counsel's directive at the time, prosecutors alleged, saying he also deleted some of his tweets in November. In January, prosecutors said in a filing that Bankman-Fried had messaged FTX's general counsel, as well as "current and former FTX employees." The financial wrongdoing at FTX was exposed, prosecutors say, by a run on accounts in November of last year.

☆ Binance secretly moved $400 million from its US partner to a trading firm managed by the crypto giant's boss CZ, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Binance secretly moved $400 million from its US partner to a trading firm owned by boss Changpeng Zhao, according to Reuters. Merit Peak is a market-maker trading firm owned by Binance CEO Zhao, who's often referred to by his initials CZ. Binance claims that Merit Peak and Binance's US partner Binance.US operate independently from the global exchange, which CZ co-founded in 2017. The Securities and Exchange Commission has previously probed ties between Binance.US, Merit Peak, and another CZ-owned trading firm called Sigma Chain AG, according to a Wall Street Journal report published in February 2022. It's not clear why the money was sent from Binance.US to Merit Peak or if any of the funds belonged to US customers.

LONDON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. partner of global cryptocurrency exchange Binance has confirmed that a trading firm managed by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao operated as a market maker on its platform. It did not elaborate on when in 2021 the activity ceased, or comment on Zhao's role at the trading firm. Binance transferred over $400 million from the account at California-based Silvergate Bank to Merit Peak between January and March of 2021, Reuters reported on Thursday. Before that story's publication, Binance.US had told Reuters that "Merit Peak is neither trading nor providing any kind of services on the Binance.US platform," without giving further details. A spokesperson for the global Binance exchange, which did not respond to Reuters' questions for the story on Thursday, told crypto news outlet CoinDesk that the transfers were "a Binance.US issue."

☆ Binance reportedly had secret access to its US arm's bank account
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The US partner of global cryptocurrency exchange Binance has confirmed that a trading firm managed by Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao operated as a market maker on its platform. It did not elaborate on when in 2021 the activity ceased, or comment on Zhao’s role at the trading firm. A spokesperson for Binance.US referred CNN to its Thursday tweet, emphasizing the line that reads: “ONLY Binance.US employees have access to Binance.US bank accounts. Before that story’s publication, Binance.US had told Reuters that “Merit Peak is neither trading nor providing any kind of services on the Binance.US platform,” without giving further details. Adobe StockBinance.US’s executives were concerned by the outflows from the Silvergate account to Merit Peak because the transfers were taking place without their knowledge, according to the messages reviewed by Reuters.

NEW YORK, Feb 16 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Thursday is set to weigh tighter restrictions on Sam Bankman-Fried's internet use, after prosecutors said the indicted FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder may be trying to hide some of his online activity. On Tuesday, Kaplan banned Bankman-Fried from using VPNs which can disguise an internet user's physical location. Bankman-Fried's lawyers said his attempts to contact FTX's current chief executive and general counsel were efforts to help, not interfere. They proposed letting him communicate by phone, email, SMS text messaging and Twitter direct messaging, while disabling iMessage from his phone. Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York Editing by Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Prime Trust made $650 million in wire transfer deposits into the Binance.US account during the quarter, the bank records show. The Binance global exchange, Binance CEO Zhao and Prime Trust did not respond to detailed questions about the transfers. Among the dealers on Binance.US was Merit Peak, according to company messages, the trading firm managed by CEO Zhao. From January to March 2021, the account records show that Merit Peak received 89 transfers from the Binance.US SEN account totalling $404 million. These transfers often immediately followed a deposit into the Binance.US account by Prime Trust, the crypto custodian firm for Binance.US client funds.

REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/IllustrationFeb 16 (Reuters) - GSK Plc (GSK.L) is expected to urge a California judge on Thursday to limit what expert testimony jurors can hear in the first trial over claims that the company's heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer. The trial, scheduled to begin Feb. 27 before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo, will offer the first test of how Zantac cancer claims may fare in state courts. The plaintiff in the upcoming trial, James Goetz, says he developed bladder cancer from taking Zantac sold by British drugmaker GSK. Lawsuits began piling up soon after the recalls began from people who said they developed cancer after taking Zantac. Cases have been filed linking Zantac to at least 10 types of cancer.

☆ Stanford law professor, researcher co-signed Bankman-Fried's bond -court records
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Luc Cohen | Thomson Reuters | Reports On The New York Federal Courts. Previously Worked As A Correspondent In Venezuela | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Feb 15 (Reuters) - A former dean of Stanford's law school and a computer science researcher at the university co-signed indicted FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried's bond, according to court records made public on Wednesday. His parents are both professors at Stanford Law School. On Jan. 25, an individual named Larry Kramer signed a $500,000 bond to ensure Bankman-Fried's return to court, and an individual named Andreas Paepcke signed a $200,000 bond, the newly-unredacted records showed. According to Stanford's website, Kramer is a former dean of the law school while Paepcke is a computer science researcher. The bond represents the amount of money Kramer and Paepcke would be liable to pay if Bankman-Fried does not return to court.

New York CNN —A federal judge released the names of two people who co-signed Sam Bankman-Fried’s $250 million bond, which allowed him to be released on house arrest while he awaits trial on federal fraud and conspiracy charges. Bankman-Fried’s parents, both Stanford law professors, are also guarantors, and used their Palo Alto, California, home to secure the bond. In a statement to CNN, Kramer described Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried as close friends since the mid-1990s. The release of the guarantors’ names came a day before Bankman-Fried was set to appear in New York federal court for a bond hearing. Bankman-Fried’s lawyers said in a letter to the judge that Bankman-Fried used the VPN to access an football games via an international subscription.

Companies Ledgerx LLC FollowFeb 15 (Reuters) - A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Wednesday denied calls for a new, independent investigation into the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, saying that the proposed investigation would be redundant to other investigations being carried out by FTX's new management and law enforcement. FTX and the committeee representing its junior creditors opposed that demand, saying that the proposed examiner would merely duplicate work already being done by FTX, its creditors, and law enforcement agencies. The proposed examination would also drain millions of dollars from FTX's limited funds, the company argued. FTX, once among the world's top crypto exchanges, shook the sector in November by filing for bankruptcy, leaving an estimated 9 million customers and investors facing billions of dollars in losses. Several former top executives, including Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, have pleaded guilty to fraud.

☆ We just learned the names of the 2 people secretly guaranteeing Sam Bankman-Fried's $250 million bond
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Larry Kramer and Andreas Paepcke are the two previously anonymous sponsors of Samuel Bankman-Fried's $250 million bond. A federal judge sided with Insider and other media organizations and made their names public. Larry Kramer, a former dean of Stanford University's law school, contributed $500,000 to the bond, according to court records unsealed Wednesday afternoon. Bankman-Fried's parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, who are both professors at Stanford University's law school, have also contributed to the bond. He also said he had no business interest in the $500,000 he contributed towards Bankman-Fried's bond.

☆ Judge orders Samuel Bankman-Fried to stop using a VPN after his lawyers claim he only used one to watch the Super Bowl
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A judge on Tuesday ordered Bankman-Fried to stop using a VPN. To allay any concerns, however, the attorneys said Bankman-Fried would immediately stop using the VPN. On Tuesday afternoon, Judge Kaplan made that a condition of his bail, adding the use of a VPN to a list of other prohibited internet activities, Reuters reported. Use of a VPN, Kaplan ruled, "presents many of the same challenges." Prosecutors allege that Bankman-Fried used deposits in the cryptocurrency exchange to finance investments placed through Alameda Research, another company he founded.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan imposed the VPN ban through Thursday, when he will hold a hearing to consider additional restrictions to Bankman-Fried's $250 million bail package. The judge on Tuesday extended that ban by three days, to Feb. 24. Prosecutors said Bankman-Fried cheated customers and improperly diverted assets, causing billions of dollars in losses. In a Monday night filing, prosecutors said Bankman-Fried used a VPN to access the internet on Jan. 29 and Feb. 12. Defense lawyers responded that Bankman-Fried used a VPN to watch National Football League playoff games on Jan. 29 and the Super Bowl on Feb. 12.

☆ Ken Griffin's Citadel Securities reveals 5.5% stake in crypto bank Silvergate
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Hannah Lang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 14 (Reuters) - Citadel Securities, the market maker that is owned by Citadel's Ken Griffin, on Tuesday reported a 5.5% stake in cryptocurrency-focused lender Silvergate Capital Corp (SI.N) worth about $25 million, according to a regulatory filing. The filing was a result of the firm's market making operations as opposed to a directional investment in Silvergate, according to a person familiar with the matter. Federal prosecutors in Washington are probing Silvergate and its dealings with FTX and Alameda Research, a source familiar with the investigation has said. U.S. custodian bank State Street Corp (STT.N) reported a 9.32% passive stake in Silvergate earlier this month. Reporting by Hannah Lang in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler and Jane MerrimanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.S. judge extends FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's bail restrictions
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Luc Cohen | Thomson Reuters | Reports On The New York Federal Courts. Previously Worked As A Correspondent In Venezuela | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Shannon StapletonCompanies Ledgerx LLC FollowNEW YORK, Feb 9 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Thursday extended a ban on FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried's ability to contact employees of companies he once controlled and use encrypted messaging technology while out on bail awaiting trial on fraud charges. As a condition of his release on $250 million bond, the judge also prevented Bankman-Fried from using messaging apps such as Signal that let users auto-delete messages. A prosecutor, Danielle Sassoon, told the judge that the people were connected with FTX but not central to the government case and not expected to testify. Bankman-Fried had also agreed to withdraw his objection to a bail condition preventing him from accessing FTX, Alameda or cryptocurrency assets. Bankman-Fried was extradited from the Bahamas, where he had lived and where the exchange was based, to face the criminal charges.

[1/5] Former FTX Chief Executive Sam Bankman-Fried, who faces fraud charges over the collapse of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, arrives for his court hearing at a federal court in New York City, U.S., February 9, 2023. Kaplan rejected that proposed agreement on Tuesday and proceeded with the hearing on Bankman-Fried's bail conditions on Thursday, without explaining why he denied the deal. As part of the agreement with prosecutors, Bankman-Fried would have also withdrawn his objection to a bail condition preventing him from accessing FTX, Alameda or cryptocurrency assets. FTX collapsed in November after a wave of withdrawals and declared bankruptcy, wiping out Bankman-Fried's fortune. Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Will DunhamOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The FTX meltdown was so chaotic that Caroline Ellison was reportedly 'relieved' to step away from Alameda
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The end of FTX followed a destabilizing exodus of customers and employees, Financial Times reports. As last-ditch efforts failed, Caroline Ellison reportedly felt "relieved" at an end to the chaos. In the meantime, there are still questions about how the parallel criminal cases could affect FTX customers trying to recover funds through the bankruptcy. Lawyers representing FTX and its creditors had previously told a Delaware bankruptcy court that they were trying to get information about transactions including FTX from insiders including Bankman-Fried and Ellison, but hadn't gotten answers. Read more in the full Financial Times feature on FTX's collapse.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried is back in court after prosecutors raise witness-tampering questions
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Sam Bankman-Fried appeared in a New York federal court on Thursday, just over a week after the judge in the FTX founder’s fraud case tightened the bail conditions in response to allegations of witness tampering. Prosecutors said the former executive, identified as “Witness-1,” could be called to testify against Bankman-Fried in a trial. In the message, Bankman-Fried wrote: “I know it’s been a while since we’ve talked. FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange co-founded by Bankman-Fried in 2019, collapsed into bankruptcy in November amid a liquidity crisis fueled by allegations about improper financial ties with Alameda, Bankman-Fried’s ostensibly separate hedge fund. Federal prosecutors now allege that the firm, under the direction of Bankman-Fried, stole customer deposits to fund unrelated activities, such as political donations, luxury real estate purchases and covering losses at Alameda, Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried — who once said every book should be a '6-paragraph blog post' — says he's written over 1,000 pages about FTX's collapse while under house arrest
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Sam Bankman-Fried has previously said "I would never read a book" and prefers blog posts. But since he's been under house arrest, SBF has written over 1,000 pages, the FT reported. Bankman-Fried passes his time writing and speaking to his lawyers, the paper said. Last September, in an interview with Sequoia Capital, a major investor in FTX, Bankman-Fried said he was skeptical of books as a concept, saying: "I would never read a book." "I think, if you wrote a book, you fucked up, and it should have been a six-paragraph blog post," he added.

Search resuls for: "Alameda"

25 mentions found