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[1/3] The logo of Robinhood Markets, Inc. is seen at a pop-up event on Wall Street after the company's IPO in New York City, U.S., July 29, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew KellyJan 4 (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors are in the process of seizing shares of Robinhood Markets Inc (HOOD.O) tied to Sam Bankman-Fried, who has been charged with fraud in the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, a U.S. attorney told a judge on Wednesday. He said the Robinhood shares were subject to litigation and it was an "open question" about who owns them. The Robinhood stock, worth about $465 million at Wednesday's late afternoon price of $8.30 per share, is also being claimed by BlockFi Inc, another bankrupt crypto firm. BlockFi is suing Emergent in a bid to seize the Robinhood stock, which was pledged by Alameda as collateral to guarantee repayment of a loan made by BlockFi.

[1/3] The logo of Robinhood Markets, Inc. is seen at a pop-up event on Wall Street after the company's IPO in New York City, U.S., July 29, 2021. The Department of Justice did not believe the 56 million shares of Robinhood, worth about $465 million, were property of a bankruptcy estate, U.S. attorney Seth Shapiro told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey, who is overseeing the FTX bankruptcy. Bankrupt crypto firm BlockFi, FTX and liquidators in Antigua have all laid claim to the Robinhood stock, along with Bankman-Fried. He said the Robinhood shares were subject to litigation and it was an "open question" about who owns them. BlockFi is suing Emergent in a bid to seize the Robinhood stock, which was pledged by Alameda as collateral to guarantee repayment of a loan made by BlockFi.

The government will give documents and evidence to Bankman-Fried’s lawyers in a process known as discovery. Prosecutors said on Tuesday that they have hundreds of thousands of documents with more on the way as they continue gathering evidence. Discovery can take months, particularly if disputes arise over what evidence the defense is entitled to see ahead of trial. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams has said his office will continue to make announcements as its probe widens. Criminal defendants can change their plea at any time, and their lawyers often negotiate with prosecutors over a possible plea deal.

☆ SEC objects to Binance.US's deal to buy Voyager Digital
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a limited objection to Binance.US's proposed $1 billion acquisition of bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Voyager Digital, a bankruptcy court filing showed on Wednesday. The regulator pointed out the failure to include necessary information in Binance.US's disclosure statement. Attorneys for Voyager and Binance.US did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Last month, the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) said its review could delay or block the deal. Reporting by Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika SyamnathOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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.

☆ The most ridiculous ways accused Capitol rioters got caught, from bad Bumble matches to an unbelievable Uber ride
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Without further adieu: The least surprising ways Capitol rioters got caught. 2 accused rioters made big Bumble blundersThese accused rioters' reach for romance landed them in trouble with the law. Officials charged Alam with several counts last year and he pleaded guilty to all charges in December 2021, according to the Justice Department. An unbelievable Uber ride was this accused rioter's downfallAlleged defendant Jerry Daniel Braun was turned in by his get-away car driver, according to court documents. "Well, because, so we could get to the Capitol," Braun replied.

The protests are the latest face-off between Santa Cruz, led by right-wing Governor Luis Fernando Camacho, and leftist President Luis Arce's government. Camacho has maintained his innocence and called his arrest and transport to La Paz, the country's capital, a kidnapping. The governor became a face for the right-wing opposition movement as a civic leader who called for leftist Morales to step down in 2019. The government has not said how it will respond to Friday's roadblocks, though some military forces were spread throughout Santa Cruz late Thursday. Reporting by Nadia Arce in Santa Cruz and Santiago Limachi in La Paz; Writing by Kylie Madry; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.S. review could delay or block Binance deal for Voyager Digital
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Dietrich Knauth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 30 (Reuters) - Binance's $1 billion acquisition of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital could be delayed or blocked by a U.S. national security review, according to a Friday bankruptcy court filing. The crypto exchange's U.S.-based affiliate Binance.US intends to buy Voyager's crypto lending platform with a bid that includes $20 million in cash and crypto assets that will be used to repay Voyager's customers. Attorneys for Voyager and Binance.US did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday. Binance.US, based in Palo Alto, California, has said that its separate American exchange is "fully independent" of the main Binance platform. Voyager filed for bankruptcy in July, months after the crash of major crypto tokens TerraUSD and Luna sent shockwaves across the digital asset industry.

☆ A Florida crypto entrepreneur bragged in the middle of his January 6 testimony about his 'legs day' personal record at the gym
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Azmi Haroun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Crypto advocate Samuel Armes had an eventful interview with the January 6 committee in July 2022. In the middle of being grilled about who authored the document, Armes ended up on the floor with a leg cramp and then bragged about how much weight he had just lifted. "Sorry, I'm cramping," Armes told Rep. Zoe Lofgren during the virtual interview, per the transcript released on December 23. He acknowledged in the interview with the committee that elements of his plan were used in the lengthier "1776 returns" document he was shown. "I ended up sharing it with her on a Google Drive," he told the committee, referring to Flores.

☆ Another militia member in Michigan governor kidnapping plot faces sentencing
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Kanishka Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 28 (Reuters) - Another right-wing militia member convicted in the plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer faces several years in prison when he is sentenced on Wednesday in a U.S. District Court. Barry Croft Jr., 47, a member of the far-right Three Percenters militia group, was convicted in August by a federal court jury in Grand Rapids, Michigan, of plotting to abduct the Democratic governor. Croft and Fox were among 13 men arrested in October 2020 in the kidnapping conspiracy. Prosecutors had accused the two of conspiring to trigger "a second American Revolution" by kidnapping Whitmer. Whitmer, co-chairman of Joe Biden's presidential election campaign that year, had clashed publicly with then-President Donald Trump over her COVID-19 policies.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried will enter a plea next week in FTX case, court filings show
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Sam Bankman-Fried is scheduled to enter a plea on January 3. Two of his top lieutenants, including Caroline Ellison, already pleaded guilty to a fraud scheme. download the app Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy PolicyFTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is expected to enter a plea at a court hearing next week, court filings show. A docket entry on Wednesday designated it as an arraignment hearing, meaning that Bankman-Fried is now scheduled to enter his plea. On Tuesday, the criminal cases of Bankman-Fried, Ellison, and Wang were assigned to US District Judge Lewis Kaplan.

DePape pled not guilty on Wednesday to all charges and denied all the allegations, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said in a statement. In November, DePape pleaded not guilty to federal criminal charges in relation to the attack on the House speaker's husband. A San Francisco police officer testified earlier in December that he witnessed the October attack. Prosecutors say the suspect, demanding to see the Democratic House speaker, had broken into her home and attacked her husband. After the attack, Paul Pelosi underwent surgery for a skull fracture and injuries to his right arm and hands.

NEW YORK, Dec 27 (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors have filed criminal charges of commodities fraud and manipulation against a man accused of trying to steal about $110 million in October by rigging the Mango Markets cryptocurrency exchange. Eisenberg was arrested on Monday night in Puerto Rico, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in Manhattan said in a court filing. Mango is a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange run by Mango DAO that lets investors lend, borrow, swap, and use leverage to trade cryptocurrency assets. Mango soon began negotiations with Eisenberg and reached a settlement to recoup $67 million. The case is U.S. v. Eisenberg, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No.

☆ FTX execs hid $8 billion in liabilities in a customer account that Bankman-Fried referred to as 'our Korean friend's account,' CFTC prosecutors allege
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-25 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Alameda Research borrowed billions of dollars of customer funds from FTX exchange. The firm's liabilities were then masked under a pseudonym account on FTX. Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang have pleaded guilty to numerous counts of fraud. The lawsuit also claimed that Bankman-Fried would later refer to that account as "our Korean friend's account" and/or "the weird Korean account." Wang pleaded guilty to four counts of similar charges.

A jury found rapper Tory Lanez guilty Friday of all charges in the 2020 shooting of Megan Thee Stallion outside a Los Angeles party. Tory Lanez, Megan Thee Stallion. APIn a statement following the verdict, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón commended Megan Thee Stallion for her "bravery." Alex Spiro, an attorney for Megan Thee Stallion, said in a statement, "The jury got it right. In her testimony, Megan Thee Stallion said Lanez offered her $1 million to keep quiet about the shooting.

☆ French Aerospace Company Safran Settles U.S. Bribery Probe
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Richard Vanderford | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +2 min

French aerospace company Safran SA will pay about $17.2 million as part of a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over bribes that subsidiaries allegedly paid in China. Safran is getting credit for coming forward and voluntarily disclosing the alleged bribery, which occurred at two subsidiaries before the company’s acquisition of the units. Parent company Safran is best known for its business as an aircraft parts maker. The $17.2 million Safran will turn over represents bribery-tainted profits stemming from the involvement of the U.S. subsidiary, Monogram. Prosecutors said they would defer to German authorities as to any penalty assessed against Safran in connection with Evac’s involvement.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)A jury found rapper Tory Lanez guilty Friday of all charges in the 2020 shooting of Megan Thee Stallion outside a Los Angeles party. In a statement following the verdict, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón commended Megan Thee Stallion for her "bravery." Alex Spiro, an attorney for Megan Thee Stallion, said in a statement, "The jury got it right. In her testimony, Megan Thee Stallion said Lanez offered her $1 million to keep quiet about the shooting. She said that Lanez had ordered the women to exit the SUV, and Megan Thee Stallion was walking away when the first shots were fired.

☆ U.S. court rejects bid by Maduro ally to dismiss money laundering charges
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Sarah Morland | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Saab Moran is being held in a Miami jail awaiting trial on charges of money laundering in the case. He was extradited to the United States the following year. The court rejected the validity of a 2018 credential used by Saab Moran to claim diplomatic status, adding it was not convinced it was related to his dealings with Iran. "At the time he was arrested, Saab Moran truly was no diplomat at all," the court ruled. U.S. prosecutors accuse Saab Moran of siphoning off some $350 million from Venezuela via the United States in a scheme that involved bribing Venezuelan government officials.

☆ Justice Department Faces Accusations It Outsourced a Corporate Investigation in Bribery Case
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Dylan Tokar | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

PREVIEWThe case against Messrs. Coburn and Schwartz was presented as a model for the Justice Department’s approach to corporate crime when it was announced in 2019. The department’s investigation into Messrs. Coburn and Schwartz was prompted by one such tipoff. The Deutsche Bank ruling was heavily cited in the motions filed by Messrs. Coburn and Schwartz. Since Messrs. Coburn and Schwartz launched their legal challenge, the Justice Department has doubled down on its bid to recruit companies as corporate crime watchdogs. The judge earlier in December heard oral arguments by both sides related to the executives’ motions.

☆ FTX founder Bankman-Fried to make U.S. court appearance after extradition
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | 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

Companies Ledgerx LLC FollowNEW YORK, Dec 22 (Reuters) - FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is expected to appear before a U.S. court on Thursday after being extradited from The Bahamas, where he had remained since the collapse of his now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange. "If you participated in misconduct at FTX or Alameda, now is the time to get ahead of it," Williams said. At his U.S. court appearance, known as an arraignment, Bankman-Fried is expected to be asked to enter a plea. Bankman-Fried has acknowledged risk-management failures at FTX, but has said he does not believe he has criminal liability. Since his arrest on Monday, Bankman-Fried was detained at the Bahamas Department of Corrections prison, known as Fox Hill.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried is set to be flown to the US from a private airport in the Bahamas, accompanied by FBI agents, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

SBF is expected to fly to the US from a private airport in the Bahamas on Wednesday, per Bloomberg. The former crypto boss has been charged with eight counts, including wire fraud. Bankman-Fried is expected to sign the final papers waving his rights to fight extradition in a Bahamas court on Wednesday. The decision was reportedly partly motivated by the fact Bankman-Fried expected to be granted bail with house arrest in the US. The disgraced former crypto boss has been charged with eight counts, including wire fraud.

FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried is escorted by corrections officers to the Magistrate's Court on December 21, 2022 in Nassau, Bahamas. Bankman-Fried, 30, was indicted in New York federal court on Dec. 9 and arrested three days later by Bahamas law enforcement at the request of U.S. prosecutors. Chaos ensued as reporters and attorneys for Bankman-Fried attempted to pin down whether the former crypto billionaire would be rendered back to the United States for arraignment in federal court. When Bankman-Fried lands in New York, the so-far atypical proceedings should take on a more familiar tenor. "But again, if arranged in advance with the magistrate in charge of the detention hearing, the court may allow a hearing before processing, but that is unlikely.

CNN —Two senior executives associated with collapsed crypto exchange FTX have pleaded guilty to multiple criminal charges and are cooperating with federal prosecutors, according to unsealed court records. Additionally, the pair face civil fraud charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission that were announced Wednesday night. Wang cofounded FTX with Bankman-Fried in 2019 and also worked with him at his hedge fund Alameda Research. Ellison is pleading guilty to seven counts, including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Wang has agreed to plead guilty to four counts: wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud.

☆ Jan. 6 committee highlights: Panel votes on criminal referrals for Trump and others
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Rebecca Shabad | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Jonathan-Allen-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +48 min

“By the time President Trump was preparing to give his speech, he and his advisors knew enough to cancel the rally. “Some have suggested that President Trump gave an order to have 10,000 troops ready for January 6th. On far-right groups drawing inspiration from Trump: Trump has not denied that he helped inspire far-right groups, including the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, to violently attempt to obstruct the official certification proceedings on Jan. 6. "There is no question from all the evidence assembled that President Trump did have that intent." Share this -Link copiedInside the final Jan. 6 committee meeting The Jan. 6 committee met for what’s likely its final public meeting, with many of the usual faces present.

☆ Democrats' Senate Majority PAC plans to return $3 million in donations from disgraced former FTX executives
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The pro-Democratic Senate Majority PAC plans to return $3 million in donations from former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and the crypto exchange's ex-head of engineering, Nishad Singh, the group said Tuesday. The super PAC, which spent more than $160 million supporting Democratic bids for Senate seats, received $2 million from Singh and $1 million from Bankman-Fried during the 2022 election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission records. The Democratic National Committee and the party's Senate and House campaign arms — the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — have made similar commitments to return donations from former FTX executives. Bankman-Fried has contributed millions toward other PACs aligned with the Democratic Party, including to the House Majority PAC, Protect Our Future and Future Forward USA. Bankman-Fried also donated $6 million in April to House Majority PAC, which raises money for Democratic candidates running for the lower chamber, according to an FEC filing.

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