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☆ Oil funds and a Turkey ETF were 2022 market winners, but Russia and crypto tanked
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —Oil stocks skyrocketed in 2022, so it’s no surprise funds that track the energy sector were Wall Street winners this year. The iShares MSCI Turkey exchange-traded fund had more than doubled as of December 19, according to data from Morningstar Direct. The Turkish economy has slowed recently as unemployment has risen, but the instability has not hurt Turkish stocks. Other US and international oil funds and ETFs were also at the top of Morningstar Direct’s list. (Morningstar Direct provided CNN Business with a ranking of the best and worst mutual funds and ETFs for 2022, excluding so-called leveraged funds that make outsized bets on stock market indexes.)

☆ 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 and FTX execs received billions in hidden loans, ex-Alameda CEO says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Sam Bankman-Fried and other FTX executives received billions of dollars in secret loans from the crypto mogul’s Alameda Research, the hedge fund’s former chief told a judge when she pleaded guilty to her role in the exchange’s collapse. Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang both pleaded guilty and are cooperating with prosecutors as part of their plea agreements. Bankman-Fried has acknowledged risk-management failures at FTX but said he does not believe he has criminal liability. A flurry of customer withdrawals in early November amid concerns about commingling of FTX funds with Alameda prompted FTX to declare bankruptcy on Nov. 11. Bankman-Fried was arrested in capital Nassau on Dec. 12 and arrived in the United States on Wednesday after consenting to extradition.

☆ Caroline Ellison Apologized for Misconduct in FTX Collapse
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Corinne Ramey | James Fanelli | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Caroline Ellison, a close associate of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried , apologized in court this week as she pleaded guilty to fraud and other offenses, telling a judge that she and others conspired to steal billions of dollars from customers of the doomed crypto exchange while misleading investors and lenders. “I am truly sorry for what I did,” Ms. Ellison, the former chief executive of Mr. Bankman-Fried’s crypto-trading firm, Alameda Research, said in a New York federal court, according to a transcript of the hearing made available Friday. “I knew that it was wrong.”

☆ Caroline Ellison Apologizes for Misconduct in FTX Collapse
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Corinne Ramey | James Fanelli | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Caroline Ellison , a close associate of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried , apologized in court this week as she pleaded guilty to fraud and other offenses, telling a judge that she and others conspired to steal billions of dollars from customers of the doomed crypto exchange while misleading investors and lenders. “I am truly sorry for what I did,” Ms. Ellison, the former chief executive of Mr. Bankman-Fried’s crypto-trading firm, Alameda Research, said in a New York federal court, according to a transcript of the hearing made available Friday. “I knew that it was wrong.”

☆ FTX Collapse Puts Pressure on SEC’s Crypto Enforcement Strategy
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Paul Kiernan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler is pushing to hold the cryptocurrency firms to the same rules that apply to stocks and bonds, rather than write a raft of new regulation for the troubled sector. That puts him at odds with some lawmakers who say the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX trading platform shows that crypto needs its own set of guardrails and point out that Mr. Gensler’s enforcement strategy moved too slowly to stop FTX from imploding.

FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who is accused of misappropriating billions of dollars deposited in the crypto currency exchange, will be released on $250 million personal recognizance bond, a federal judge in New York ruled Thursday. Bankman-Fried, wearing a dark blue suit and tan shoes, walked into court with shackles around his ankles. A recognizance bond is a written commitment from the accused to appear in court when ordered. Bankman-Fried’s parents, both Stanford Law professors, were in the courtroom. Sam Bankman-Fried, center, arrives at the Magistrate Court building for a hearing in Nassau, Bahamas, on Dec. 21, 2022.

The collapse of crypto exchange FTX is becoming clearer. Complaints from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission released Wednesday night provide the most comprehensive look yet at how Sam Bankman-Fried’s operation came crashing down. The new documents, totalling 81 pages, allege how FTX sent customer funds to Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund, Alameda Research, directed high-level executives to create special software code to make such transfers easier, hid losses, and even continued to secretly siphon funds to Alameda as the company was headed toward insolvency. Two top business associates of Bankman-Fried, former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang, are defendants in the civil cases brought by the SEC and CFTC and have pleaded guilty to criminal fraud charges, a federal prosecutor in New York said Wednesday. Here are the 14 most notable passages in the complaints, with the full documents embedded below:

The co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX and the former CEO of Sam Bankman-Fried's hedge fund, Alameda Research, have pleaded guilty to fraud, a federal prosecutor in New York said Wednesday. The SEC complaint alleges that Wang "created FTX’s software code that allowed Alameda to divert FTX customer funds," and that Ellison used those funds for Alameda's trading. The SEC complaint alleges a complex scheme to trick both investors and customers into believing that FTX had strict and advance risk mitigation. "From the inception of FTX, Defendants and Bankman-Fried diverted FTX customer funds to Alameda, and continued to do so until FTX’s collapse in November 2022," the SEC complaint reads. “If you participated in misconduct at FTX or Alameda, now is the time to get ahead of it,” he said.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried’s Extradition Approved by Judge
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( James Fanelli | Corinne Ramey | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

NASSAU, Bahamas—FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried will soon be in U.S. custody to face criminal charges connected to the collapse of the crypto exchange, after a judge here approved his transfer from a local jail where he has been held. In court Wednesday, Mr. Bankman-Fried’s lawyer read an affidavit in which the former executive waived his right to extradition proceedings and said he had “a desire to make the relevant customers whole.”

☆ FTX Wants to Claw Back Sam Bankman-Fried’s Donations
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Patricia Kowsmann | Paul Kiernan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

New management at the collapsed crypto exchange FTX said it would try to recoup donations made by Sam Bankman-Fried and other executives, which include tens of millions of dollars in contributions to U.S. politicians and affiliated groups. The Securities and Exchange Commission said in a lawsuit last week that customer assets were used to make investments, real-estate purchases and large political donations.

Indicted FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried on Tuesday agreed to be extradited from the Bahamas to the United States, according to a Bahamian court official. The paperwork has been filed with the court, and Bankman-Fried will fly to the U.S. on Wednesday, said Doan Cleare, acting Commissioner of Corrections, Bahamas Department of Correctional Services. Bankman-Fried, 30, is accused of misappropriating billions of dollars deposited in FTX, a huge cryptocurrency exchange that collapsed in November. At one time FTX was reportedly valued at $32 billion and seen as the face of the industry. Once he’s back in the U.S., Bankman-Fried can request that he be released on a bail.

☆ The Biggest Debates and Opinions in 2022 - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +30 min

Opinion The 22 Debates That Made Us Rage, Roll Our Eyes, and Change Our Minds in 2022Debating is what we do here at Times Opinion. To many, she was an icon: She ruled for 70 years, presided over the transition from empire to commonwealth and served as a living link to the generation that won World War II. (Though Ben Bernanke, a former Fed chairman himself, wrote in The Times that that wasn’t going to happen.) The United States and its European allies poured weapons and aid into Ukraine, but how was this going to end? As 2022 draws to a close, the fighting continues and peace talks look as distant as ever — which probably means that the debates will continue.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried’s Lawyers Hash Out His Transfer to U.S. After Confusion in Court
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( James Fanelli | Corinne Ramey | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

NASSAU, Bahamas—FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried inched closer to being transferred into U.S. custody to face criminal charges related to the cryptocurrency exchange’s collapse, after a chaotic court hearing here Monday in which his local lawyer appeared at odds with his U.S. legal team. Mr. Bankman-Fried has agreed to be extradited, according to a person familiar with the matter, and plans were being fleshed out by his legal team after the day’s court proceedings. Mr. Bankman-Fried’s lawyers hope to have a new hearing on the matter as early as Tuesday, the person said.

Nassau, Bahamas CNN —FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried Monday morning arrived in court in the Bahamas where he is expected to drop his extradition fight, clearing a significant hurdle to return him to US soil to be prosecuted on multiple charges of fraud and conspiracy. Bankman-Fried had initially planned to fight efforts to return him to the United States. But after a week in Nassau’s notorious Fox Hill prison, he appears less interested in keeping up what would have likely been a yearslong battle to avoid extradition. The US State Department reported that conditions at Fox Hill, the Bahamian prison where Bankman-Fried has stayed since his arrest last Monday, are harsh. Bankman-Fried’s lawyer declined to comment on a timeline for his return to the United States.

☆ Premarket stocks: Why the market is obsessed with unemployment
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Stocks plunged earlier this month after the closely watched November jobs report showed a resilient labor market. They fell again on Thursday when weekly numbers showed the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell, indicating a still-tight labor market. “There’s an imbalance in the labor market between supply and demand,” he said, adding that it will take a “substantial period” to fix that imbalance. That path to the Fed’s 2% inflation target is through the jobs market. “There will be some softening in labor market conditions,” Powell said.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried to appear in court Monday to drop extradition fight
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Cnn Business | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is expected to appear in a Bahamas court on Monday to reverse his decision to contest extradition to the US, a person familiar with the matter told CNN. The New York Times also reported that Bankman-Fried is expected to agree to extradition to the US, citing a person briefed on the matter. Bankman-Fried could face up to 115 years in prison if convicted on all eight counts against him, though he likely wouldn’t get the maximum sentence. He was arraigned Tuesday, and a Bahamian judge denied his request for bail, saying that he posed a flight risk. His extradition to the United States could take weeks.

News of the FTX's fall first prompted questions to lawmakers about Bankman-Fried's political donations. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and John Boozman of Arkansas said they would donate Bankman-Fried’s campaign contributions, though they did not specify the charities they intended to donate the money to. Bankman-Fried also poured millions into super PACs that support candidates outside of their campaigns, including the Senate Majority PAC, or SMP, a super PAC supporting Democratic Senate candidates. The disclosed sums likely don't capture the full breadth of Bankman-Fried's political spending. "The candidates who received money from dark money organizations don't really have to answer for it," Sherman said.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried’s Dirty Political Donations
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Kimberley A. Strassel | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Celebrity crypto savant Sam Bankman-Fried is in a heap of trouble. Washington has its own giant FTX problem, in what now appears to be millions of dollars in dirty donations. It’s a donor scandal for the ages, and yet politicians are mum on what they intend to do about it. The country is learning more about FTX’s spectacular collapse, including the allegation that SBF stole billions from customers to prop up a side venture, Alameda Research. The SEC explains that FTX customer funds were diverted to Alameda to the extent that there was “no meaningful distinction,” and that SBF then used these “commingled FTX customers’ funds” to make “large political donations.” Put simply, SBF stands accused of using stolen money to fuel politics.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried’s Arrest Offers Cold Comfort to FTX Customers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Hannah Miao | Caitlin Mccabe | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

For many customers burned by the whirlwind collapse of FTX, the arrest of founder Sam Bankman-Fried offered them the chance to take a brief sigh of relief—but not much more. Prosecutors and regulators alleged this week that Mr. Bankman-Fried stole billions of dollars from FTX customers in one of the biggest financial frauds in American history. Much of the money, they said, propped up trading firm Alameda Research, also largely owned by Mr. Bankman-Fried.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried’s Crypto Crash
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

If the rise of Sam Bankman-Fried was a modern tale about cryptocurrency tokens and “effective altruism,” his fall seems to be as old as original sin. “This is really old-fashioned embezzlement,” John Ray , the caretaker CEO of the failed crypto exchange FTX, told the House on Tuesday. “This is just taking money from customers and using it for your own purpose, not sophisticated at all.”Mr. Bankman-Fried, FTX’s co-founder, was arrested Monday in the Bahamas and is expected to be extradited. SBF, as he is often called, has been on a media tour since FTX’s failure, and he portrays himself as a well-intentioned doofus savant who got in way over his head and—whoops—lost billions of dollars. The sloppiness of bookkeeping is true enough: Mr. Ray said invoices and expenses were communicated via Slack chats, and “they used QuickBooks.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is introducing legislation Wednesday aimed at cracking down on money laundering in cryptocurrency. The Senate Banking Committee, which includes Warren, is holding a hearing Wednesday on the FTX debacle and aftermath. The bill would designate providers of digital asset wallets as money service businesses, bringing them under the authorities of the Bank Secrecy Act, which fights money laundering in the financial system. Further, it would prohibit financial institutions from dealing with services that blend the cryptocurrencies of users together, obscuring their origins. Warren has been an outspoken critic of FTX prior to Bankman-Fried’s indictment.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alleged Campaign Finance Violations Explained
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Chad Day | Paul Kiernan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

U.S. authorities have accused Sam Bankman-Fried of violating federal campaign finance law as part of what they called a sweeping scheme to defraud customers of FTX, the crypto company he founded. Here’s what we know—and don’t know—about the campaign finance allegations against Mr. Bankman-Fried from his indictment and lawsuits filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

☆ Parents of Sam Bankman-Fried face scrutiny over their roles in FTX
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Now, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, the FTX founder’s parents, may face legal troubles of their own. Bankman-Fried’s lawyer declined to comment when asked about scrutiny of his parents. The new CEO of FTX is John Ray III, a restructuring expert tasked with shepherding the company through its complex bankruptcy. They have told friends that their son’s legal bills will likely wipe them out financially, according to the paper. A judge ordered that Bankman-Fried must remain in custody after denying a request for bail, calling him a flight risk.

☆ Why Tom Brady, David Ortiz, Jimmy Fallon and other celebrities are getting sued over crypto
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Jennifer Korn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Tom Brady, Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow and baseball Hall-of-Famer David Ortiz are just some of the big names facing lawsuits from investors as the crypto world crumbles in the wake of FTX’s fall from grace. The backlash started earlier this month, when a class-action suit was filed against celebrities, including Jimmy Fallon, Justin Bieber and Serena Williams for promoting Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. None of the celebrities named in the lawsuits immediately responded to requests from CNN for comment. Investors in FTX are not expected to be able to recover their money, the company’s CEO testified on Capitol Hill Tuesday. And after the crypto market bust and a round of lawsuits, celebrities may think twice about what they endorse in the future, too.

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