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☆ Rep. George Santos mystery bail backers' identities must be revealed, judge rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., speaks to reporters after a vote to send a resolution to the Ethics panel in an attempt to expel him from the House, on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, May 17, 2023, in Washington, DC. The identities of the three people who guaranteed Rep. George Santos' $500,000 bond in his criminal fraud case must be revealed, a federal magistrate judge ordered Tuesday. But Santos, the embattled freshman Republican lawmaker from New York who was charged last month with an array of financial crimes, has until noon on Friday to appeal the decision, Magistrate Judge Anne Shields ordered. Santos admitted lying about his professional background and education, but he has denied other wrongdoing and pushed back on subsequent damning reporting about his business activities. The judge's decision was filed under seal in order to allow Santos to file his appeal.

Persons: George Santos, Santos, Anne Shields, Joseph Murray, Murray Organizations: Capitol, The New York Times Locations: Washington ,, New York

☆ Is indicted Chinese billionaire tycoon Guo Wengui secretly bankrolling George Santos's bail?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

In recent months, he's become supportive of exiled Chinese tycoon and Republican patron Guo Wengui. There's a very strong chance that one person putting up the money — directly or indirectly — is the jailed exiled Chinese billionaire tycoon Guo Wengui. Even Ghislaine Maxwell and SBF didn't get this kind of secrecySantos certainly doesn't want us to know who these bond sponsors are. (An affinity for using multiple names, which are variations of each other, is something Guo shares with George Anthony Devolder Santos.) So, is Guo one of Santos's bail sponsors?

Persons: George Santos's, you'll, Santos, he's, Guo Wengui, —, George Santos, Ghislaine Maxwell, SBF didn't, Joanna Seybert, Jeremy A, Chase, Alexandra Settelmayer, Davis Wright Tremaine, Lokman Vural, Sam Bankman, Larry Kramer, Andreas Paepcke —, Lewis Kaplan, Jeffrey Epstein, Epstein, Maxwell, Guo, Steve Bannon, Forbes, Miles Kwok, Carlo Allegri, Bannon, Miles Guo, George Anthony Devolder Santos, Cait Corrigan, Santos didn't, Joe Murray, Guo didn't, Santos doesn't Organizations: Service, Rep, Republican, New York Times, US, Federal, Anadolu Agency, Getty, Stanford University, REUTERS, New Federal, Chinese Communist Party, Law Foundation, Law Society, Santos, Justice Department Locations: New York, Long, Santos, Washington, DC, Central Islip, Central Islip , New York, Manhattan, United States, China, New Federal State of China, New Federal State

☆ Wuhan is so cash-strapped it's calling in debts
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

It urged them to pay their overdue debts as soon as possible. The public appeal by Wuhan, which was at the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic that began in late 2019, is highly unusual and underscores the fiscal challenges facing China’s local governments. A real estate crash has exacerbated the problem, as local governments rely heavily on land sale revenues. Analysts estimate China’s outstanding government debts surpassed 123 trillion yuan ($18 trillion) last year, of which nearly $10 trillion is so-called “hidden debt” owed by risky local government financing platforms. Wuhan and Kunming are not the only city governments revealing the extent of their debt problems.

☆ China's Wuhan finance regulator urges hundreds of firms to repay debt, local media report
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING, May 27 (Reuters) - The financial regulator of China's Wuhan city publicly exposed 259 firms with debt to the government and urged them to immediately pay up, local media reported on Saturday. The rare action from Wuhan's finance bureau on Friday comes as local governments in China become increasingly pressed by higher debt and expenses. The debtors, their corresponding guarantors and successors were requested to repay their debts to the asset management firm immediately after May 26, Yicai reported. State-owned Wuhan Yangtze River Asset Management Co is a professional platform responsible for the disposal of various non-performing assets in the central city, according to its official website. Wuhan's local budget revenue slid 8.5% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023, according to data released by local the finance bureau.

☆ A judge reportedly held a secret hearing with the 3 anonymous people sponsoring George Santos's $500,000 bail
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A court filing said a judge held sealed court hearings with them to keep their identities secret. In a letter filed to court Wednesday, Dana R. Green, a lawyer for The New York Times, said the court held another secret hearing with the sponsors. It's unclear whether the hearing was overseen by Shields or US District Judge Joanna Seybert, to whom Santos's case has since been assigned. After a group of news organizations — including Insider — asked the judge to unseal their names, arguing they were in the public interest, the judge ultimately made the names public. Unlike in the Bankman-Fried case, there's no public record that Santos's attorney asked for the bail-sponsor names to remain sealed.

☆ Negotiating Financing Provisions in Mergers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +47 min

(For the complete version of this resource, which includes initial considerations and questions counsel should ask when drafting and negotiating financing provisions in merger agreements, see Drafting and Negotiating Financing Provisions in Mergers on Practical Law.) For a private placement under Rule 144A, the financing parties may offer some flexibility regarding the required financing statements. The term refers collectively to provisions that benefit debt financing parties by limiting their liability in an acquisition financing, including provisions that provide for:No recourse to the financing parties. The target company has no recourse against the financing parties and cannot pursue litigation against the financing parties directly. The financing parties are third-party beneficiaries of the Xerox provisions to permit the financing parties to enforce their rights under the merger agreement.

☆ South Korea's 'jeonse' rent-free renters hit by property downturn
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Jihoon Lee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Yoo Ha-jin, 27, looks at a building where she lives in Seoul, South Korea, February 21, 2023. Yoo Ha-jin, 28, regrets not getting insurance for her jeonse deposit when she signed in March 2021. "I thought I would be just fine as long as I could get a jeonse deposit loan from the bank," Yoo told Reuters. Jeonse deposit loans more than quadrupled in less than six years through October to 172 trillion won ($132 billion), according to the central bank. Jeonse deposit loansPROPERTY FALLOUTStill, almost all jeonse loans have guarantees from public enterprises, leaving little credit risk for commercial lenders.

☆ Who are Larry Kramer and Andreas Paepcke — the two people who paid part of Sam Bankman-Fried's bail?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Sarah Jackson | Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

They are Larry Kramer and Andreas Paepcke, both of whom have ties to Stanford, where SBF's parents work. On Wednesday, unsealed court records identified the FTX founder's bail guarantors as Larry Kramer, a former dean of Stanford Law School, and Andreas Paepcke, a senior research scientist at Stanford. A screenshot of Larry Kramer's bio on a Stanford Law School web page shows that he's emeritus dean of the institution. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1984, according to his Stanford Law bio page. On his personal page, Paepcke listed hobbies including "piano studies and simple composition, worrying, and poetry."

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried's $250 million bail bond is a 'joke' and prosecutors have been too 'lenient' with the FTX founder, securities lawyer says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Parts of Sam Bankman-Fried's bail conditions are "ludicrous," a securities lawyer said. For Bankman-Fried's $250 million bond, there was no cash exchanged for his release, but a promise not to flee the country. Bankman-Fried was released on a $250 million bail bond in late December, which was cosigned by his parents, who pledged their home in Palo Alto as collateral. Murphy says there was no real money used for Bankman-Fried's bond, but a promise not to flee the country. Bankman-Fried's bail conditions tightened earlier this month after he sent a text to a former top FTX executive, which an overseeing judge described as a "material threat of inappropriate contact with prospective witnesses."

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailBitcoin rallies near $25,000, and SBF's two bond guarantors unsealed: CNBC Crypto WorldCNBC Crypto World features the latest news and daily trading updates from the digital currency markets and provides viewers with a look at what's ahead with high-profile interviews, explainers, and unique stories from the ever-changing crypto industry. On today's show, Zachary Fallon of Ketsal, a former SEC attorney, weighs in on the agency's proposed rules change for crypto companies.

☆ 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.

☆ FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's two bond guarantors unsealed, both with ties to Stanford
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Former FTX chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried (C) arrives to enter a plea before US District Judge Lewis Kaplan in the Manhattan federal court, New York, January 3, 2023. The names of two of FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried's guarantors were revealed on Wednesday, after an unsealing motion from media companies including CNBC was granted by a Manhattan federal judge. In all, there were four guarantors, including his parents, to ensure Bankman-Fried's cooperation with pretrial detention requirements. Kramer signed a $500,000 unsecured bond, while Paepcke signed the same bond for $250,000. WATCH: Prosecutors say Sam Bankman-Fried's contact with FTX employees suggests witness tampering

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried’s bond guarantors released
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailSam Bankman-Fried’s bond guarantors releasedThe names of two of FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s guarantors were made public on Wednesday. CNBC's Eamon Javers has the details.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried is appealing the judge's decision to reveal the identities of 2 people who helped secure his $250 million bail package
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Besides his parents, two as-yet-unidentified people cosigned the $250 million bail bond to get the FTX founder released from jail. Bankman-Fried's attorneys argued the potential of physical threats were reasons to keep their identities sealed. Attorneys for the FTX founder appealed a judge's decision to reveal the two non-parental cosigners of his $250 million bail bond, according to a court filing on Tuesday. "Mr. Bankman-Fried stands accused of perpetrating one of the largest financial frauds in history." "In recent weeks, Mr. Bankman-Fried's parents have become the target of intense media scrutiny, harassment, and threats," Cohen said last month.

Companies Ledgerx LLC FollowNEW YORK, Feb 7 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday rejected a proposal to modify Sam Bankman-Fried's bail conditions, despite an agreement between the FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder and prosecutors to address potential witness tampering concerns. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan did not provide reasons for the denial, and said a hearing on bail remains scheduled for Feb. 9. Prosecutors had asked last month to tighten bail, citing Bankman-Fried's efforts to contact both the general counsel of the FTX U.S. affiliate and new FTX Chief Executive John Ray, ostensibly to provide assistance. Bankman-Fried would have also withdrawn his objection to a bail condition preventing him from accessing FTX, Alameda or cryptocurrency assets. They cited the cases' substantial overlap, and the risk Bankman-Fried could gather evidence in the civil cases to help his criminal defense.

☆ UK plans to reimburse scam victims 'fundamentally flawed,' lawmakers say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Iain Withers | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Proposals to reimburse hundreds of millions of pounds to scam victims in Britain are "fundamentally flawed" and are taking too long to come into force, lawmakers said in a report published on Monday. So-called "authorised push payment" scams have become Britain's largest type of payment fraud and cost customers 583 million pounds ($715 million) in 2021. Lawmakers on Britain's powerful Treasury Select Committee criticised the plans and said mandatory reimbursements should begin this year at the latest, and not as late as 2024. "Putting an industry body in charge of reimbursing scam victims is like asking a fox to guard the henhouse," said Harriett Baldwin, chair of the Treasury committee. The PSR said it would consider all feedback before publishing its final position in May this year, adding it regulated payment system operators including Pay.UK.

☆ People who posted Sam Bankman-Fried's bail should be named, U.S. judge rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Jonathan Stempel | Industry Insight | Upcoming Sec Climate Disclosure Rules Bring Urgency To Esg Data Strategy Planning | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan ruled in favor of several media outlets including Reuters that sought the names. The judge said that while the public had only a "weak" right to know who Bankman-Fried's guarantors were, it outweighed Bankman-Fried's arguments for confidentiality, including that the guarantors' safety could be imperiled. Kaplan disagreed, noting that long before bail was posted, the parents had faced "intense public scrutiny" over their relationship with their son, who was once worth an estimated $26 billion. They said there was less "stigma" from being associated with Bankman-Fried than from being associated with the late sex offender. Other media seeking to identify Bankman-Fried's guarantors included the Associated Press, Bloomberg, CNBC, CoinDesk, Dow Jones, the Financial Times, Insider, the New York Times and the Washington Post.

The lawyers, Mark Cohen and Christian Everdell, did not specify when the incident took place, describing it only as recent. The news organizations argued last week that the right of the public to know the two sureties' identities outweighed their privacy and safety rights. Bankman-Fried's lawyers said the media groups "assign far too much weight to the presumption of access" and ignored the safety of the guarantors. Prosecutors took no position on whether to disclose the sureties' identities or not, Bankman-Fried's lawyers wrote in the filing. Prosecutors interviewed and approved the two individuals on Jan. 4, Cohen and Everdell wrote.

NEW YORK, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Eight major media outlets on Thursday asked the U.S. judge overseeing Sam Bankman-Fried's criminal case to make public the names of two people who helped guarantee the FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder's $250 million bond. Saying the public interest "cannot be overstated," lawyers for the outlets, including Reuters, said the public's right to know Bankman-Fried's guarantors outweighed their privacy and safety rights. Media seeking to identify Bankman-Fried's sureties also include the Associated Press, Bloomberg, CNBC, Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones, the Financial Times, Insider and the Washington Post. Cohen and Everdell also represented Maxwell in her criminal case. In seeking to keep the sureties' names under wraps, Bankman-Fried's lawyers said their client's parents, who co-signed the $250 million bond, had been harassed and received physical threats since FTX's early November collapse and bankruptcy.

☆ Who are the two people who helped bail out Sam Bankman-Fried? Insider and other media organizations are asking a judge to unveil the secret
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

News organizations, including Insider, are asking a court to unveil Sam Bankman-Fried's bail backers. Bankman-Fried's lawyers told the court earlier this month that the backers of his release should stay secret for their "privacy and safety." At Bankman-Fried's January 3 arraignment hearing, Kaplan had granted a request from Bankman-Fried's lawyers to keep the names and addresses of those two people under seal. Christian Everdell, one of Bankman-Fried's lawyers, also represented Maxwell in her criminal case. But lawyers representing the media organizations said the cases were significantly different.

☆ Who are the 2 people who helped bail out Sam Bankman-Fried? Insider and other news organizations asked a judge to unseal their names.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

News organizations, including Insider, are asking a court to unveil Sam Bankman-Fried's bail backers. Bankman-Fried's lawyers told the court earlier this month that the backers of his release should stay secret for their "privacy and safety." The two other backers sponsored "separate bonds in lesser amounts," according to a court filing earlier this month by Bankman-Fried's lawyers. At Bankman-Fried's January 3 arraignment hearing, Kaplan had granted a request from Bankman-Fried's lawyers to keep the names and addresses of those two people under seal. Christian Everdell, one of Bankman-Fried's lawyers, also represented Maxwell in her criminal case.

Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty in New York federal court Tuesday to eight charges related to the collapse of his former crypto exchange FTX and hedge fund Alameda Research. The onetime crypto billionaire was indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud, individual charges of securities fraud and wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to avoid campaign finance regulations. Federal prosecutors also announced the launch of a new task force to recover victim assets as part of an ongoing investigation into Bankman-Fried and the collapse of FTX. Federal prosecutors built the indictment against Bankman-Fried with unusual speed, packaging together the criminal charges against the 30-year-old in a matter of weeks. The federal charges came alongside complaints from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

☆ Russian 'blackmail' over grain export deal failed - Ukrainian presidential aide
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Pavel Polityuk | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KYIV, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Russia is resuming participation in a deal to free up grain exports from Ukraine because it realised the initiative would still work without Kremlin involvement, a senior Ukrainian official said on Wednesday. Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in a written statement to Reuters that Moscow's decision showed that Russian "blackmail" and "escalation and threats" fail when they meet a resolute response. "One way or another, Russia, embarrassed, returned to the 'grain initiative' because it suddenly turned out that the grain corridor would work even without the Kremlin's participation," Podolyak said. "When you want to play blackmail, it is important not to outplay yourself," Podolyak said. Another senior Ukrainian official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters that Moscow's decision was mainly a result of Turkish pressure on Russia.

☆ Monte dei Paschi to pay 125 million euros in fees for share sale
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( Valentina Za | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

MILAN, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Italy's Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) (BMPS.MI) said a new share sale to raise up to 2.5 billion euros ($2.4 billion) would cost it 125 million euros in fees to financial institutions backstopping the issue. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterAfter difficult negotiations that risked derailing the capital raising, the eight banks have agreed to guarantee the share issue for up to 807 million euros. Algebris is backstopping up to another 50 million euros. The fees amount to nearly 15% of the guaranteed sum and compare with a market value of just 99.8 million euros for MPS on Friday. The cost of the capital increase, which totals 132 million euros, would shave 15 basis points off that target, MPS said.

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