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☆ The Four Criminal Charges in Jan. 6 Committee’s Trump Referral
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Jan Wolfe | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol has recommended by unanimous vote that the Justice Department pursue four criminal charges against former President Donald Trump, and two criminal charges against John Eastman , one of his postelection lawyers. The referrals have no legal weight as the Justice Department is running its own investigation and will make its own determination of what, if any, charges to bring. Here are the four criminal offenses in the committee’s referral. Obstruction of an Official Proceeding (18 U.S.C. The law punishes “whoever corruptly alters, destroys, mutilates or conceals a record, document or other object…or otherwise obstructs, influences or impedes any official proceeding.” This is one of the two offenses the committee included in Mr. Eastman’s referral.

☆ Mark Cuban says last year's crypto boom was '99% noise' – and Sam Bankman-Fried's arrest could pop the bubble
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Mark Cuban said there's still some underlying value in crypto despite the ongoing sell-off. "99% of it was noise but there's real value there," he told 'The Problem with Jon Stewart' Monday. Cuban added that Sam Bankman-Fried's arrest on fraud charges will force crypto to "get its act together". "There's the signal and the noise," Cuban told Apple TV+'s "The Problem with Jon Stewart". Stablecoin issuer Terra and hedge fund Three Arrows Capital collapsed earlier in 2022 as the crypto selloff brought to light potential instabilities in the digital asset sector.

Bankman-Fried initially had said he would fight extradition after his arrest a week ago in the Bahamas, where he lives and FTX is based. Reuters reported first on Saturday that Bankman-Fried would return to court to reverse his decision, citing a source. Bankman-Fried's defense lawyer however told Magistrate Shaka Serville that he does not know why Bankman-Fried was brought to court this morning. LONG ROAD TO EVENTUAL TRIAL[1/7] The Founder and former CEO of crypto currency exchange FTX Sam Bankman-Fried arrives at the Magistrate Court building in Nassau, Bahamas December 19, 2022. REUTERS/Dante Carrer 1 2 3 4 5Upon being extradited to the United States, Bankman-Fried would be required to appear before a judge in Manhattan within two days, though the hearing would likely take place quickly.

Dec 19 (Reuters) - Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, is expected to appear in court in the Bahamas on Monday and agree to be extradited to the United States, where he faces fraud charges. Bankman-Fried initially said he would fight extradition after his arrest a week ago in the Bahamas, where he lives and FTX is based. Reuters reported first on Saturday that Bankman-Fried would return to court to reverse his decision. Upon being extradited to the United States, Bankman-Fried would be required to appear before a judge in Manhattan within two days, though the hearing would likely take place quickly. Any trial of Bankman-Fried is likely more than a year away, legal experts told Reuters.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried's story keeps getting wilder and weirder as details emerge from his past and more people speak out.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The more details that emerge, the more I feel like this is going to make a great Michael Lewis book (and movie) one day. Among the highlights from his testimony include his assertion that the crypto market is "the largest Ponzi scheme in history." In other news:Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks at a news conference following a Federal Open Market Committee meeting, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022, in Washington. A top FTX exec blew the whistle on Sam Bankman-Fried's moves just two days before the crypto exchange collapsed. Morgan Stanley's Mike Wilson said the stock market could fall further in 2023.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX wants to sell some of its last remaining solvent businesses as its restructuring process picks up
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

FTX wants to sell some of its last functioning business units, according to a court filing. The embattled company has petitioned a federal court for permission to sell several of its subsidiaries, including US derivatives platform LedgerX, as the troubled firm's restructuring process picks up. Company attorneys say it's a "priority" for FTX to "explore sales" and "strategic transactions" of some of its remaining businesses, according to a court filing on Thursday. The filing continued: "The Debtors believe a number of these entities have solvent balance sheets, independent management and valuable franchises." FTX wants to sell these businesses fast, according to the court document, which indicated that some of the entities have had their operating licenses suspended following FTX's collapse.

☆ FTX's massive $256 million real-estate empire is up for grabs as Bahamian and US lawyers squabble over who should control it
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Robert Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Lawyers representing the US and the Bahamas disagree on who should control FTX's massive real estate portfolio. A lawyer monitoring the case told Insider that the timing of the assets' disposal is more important than venue. According to a court filing from December 12, Bahamian lawyers asserted that Bankman-Fried spent more than $256 million to acquire 35 properties on the island. But, that total payout could change if regulators in one country or the other wait too long to liquidate the real estate assets, Pintarelli added. According to market data from brokerage BE Luxury Real Estate, the median sales price of Bahamian real estate grew from about $360,000 in 2020 to more than $630,000 through the first six months of 2021.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX had the corporate governance of a college fraternity, congressman says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A congressman likened collapsed exchange FTX's corporate governance to a college fraternity. "It would be laughable were it not so serious," congressman Ritchie Torres said. In reality, the company was more like a college fraternity, congressman Ritchie Torres says, with haphazard and reckless bookkeeping practices. "FTX had the corporate governance of a fraternity," Torres, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, told Coindesk TV on Wednesday. The now-bankrupt exchange used QuickBooks, an accounting software generally used by smaller businesses, not multi-billion dollar companies.

John J. Ray, chief executive officer of FTX Cryptocurrency Derivatives Exchange, arrives to a House Financial Services Committee hearing investigating the collapse of FTX in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. Instead, like bankers and lawyers who are working on the bankruptcy proceedings, the new leadership team is professional independent contractors. That means, among other things, that they get paid immediately, before any FTX investors receive recompense for their losses. According to court filings, the new FTX CEO will collect $1,300 hourly plus "reasonable expenses" for his work untangling what U.S. Attorney Damian Williams called "one of the biggest frauds in American history" in a news conference Tuesday. In one bankruptcy case Ray worked on, he billed around 156 hours in a two-month period, netting him $120,582, so his billings for FTX may run higher or lower.

☆ Premarket stocks: Investors are hoping for the economic tide to turn. The wait may soon be over
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

What’s happening: Price increases in the United States cooled more than economists expected last month, recording the lowest level of growth since last December. This is the second consecutive month of moderating price pressures and could mean the underlying trend of inflation is finally decelerating. That’s a welcome and hopeful sign for consumers, policymakers and investors, said Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors. The bill specifically names TikTok and its parent, ByteDance, as social media companies for the purposes of the legislation. In the past two weeks, at least seven states have introduced such measures, including Maryland, South Dakota and Utah.

☆ FTX's new CEO accused the collapsed crypto exchange of 'old school' embezzlement that was 'not sophisticated at all'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

FTX's new CEO has accused the collapsed crypto exchange of "old school" embezzlement. 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's new CEO has accused the crypto exchange of "old school" embezzlement in scathing congressional testimony. "This is really just old-fashioned embezzlement," Ray said. This is just plain old embezzlement. Old school, old school."

☆ Everything you need to know about the FTX saga that unfolded today
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

On Tuesday, Ray testified before the House Financial Services Committee, relaying what he could about the company he took over just four weeks ago. FTX, on the other hand, was “not sophisticated at all.”“This is really old-fashioned embezzlement,” Ray continued. They say he misappropriated FTX customers’ deposits by using those funds to pay expenses and debts of Alameda, his crypto hedge fund. (The SDNY are an aggressive people, but they are not sloppy, and they don’t indict without a solid case.) Several lawyers not involved in the case have told me that the speed of Bankman-Fried’s arrest signals that former FTX employees may be aiding prosecutors.

CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin reported that the charges against Bankman-Fried include wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy and money laundering. Neither the Attorney General of the Bahamas nor the Royal Bahamas Police Force would confirm the nature of the charges against Bankman-Fried. "I didn't ever try to commit fraud," Bankman-Fried said. The CFTC and lawmakers have begun their probes into FTX and Bankman-Fried, who told Sorkin he was down to his last $100,000. Failed lender BlockFi sued Bankman-Fried in November, seeking unnamed collateral that the FTX founder provided for the crypto lending firm.

CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin reported that the charges against Bankman-Fried include wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy and money laundering. Bahamas Attorney General Ryan Pinder said the United States was "likely to request his extradition." "While the United States is pursuing criminal charges against SBF individually, The Bahamas will continue its own regulatory and criminal investigations into the collapse of FTX, with the continued cooperation of its law enforcement and regulatory partners in the United States and elsewhere," the statement said. The Bahamas and the United States have had an extradition treaty in place since the early 20th century, when the Bahamas was still under British control. Legal experts told CNBC that if the federal government pursues wire or bank fraud charges, Bankman-Fried could face life in prison without the possibility of supervised release.

☆ FTX's collapse prompted the largest-ever outflow of bitcoin from crypto exchanges, with investors pulling $1.5 billion last month
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In November, investors pulled nearly $1.5 billion in bitcoin from crypto exchanges. The fallout of FTX's collapse has rocked the crypto market, and November's bitcoin outflows were the highest ever. Meanwhile, in the first week of December, investors pulled 4,545 bitcoin from centralized exchanges, up from 3,846 in the same period in 2021. Former FTX Group CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's downfall has renewed concerns about the safety of user funds held in centralized exchanges. All this has weighed on public confidence in crypto, and traders have grown more wary over security.

☆ US lawmakers want answers on FTX's collapse. Sam Bankman-Fried may not have them.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

But first, we are going to hear more from Sam Bankman-Fried this week, even if you think we've already heard quite enough from him. Sam Bankman-Fried testifies during a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee on December 8, 2021 in Washington, DC. Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who said he once considered himself a "model CEO," tweeted last week that he would testify before tomorrow's House Financial Services committee hearing focused on his firm's blowup. FTX's new CEO, John J. Ray III, who oversaw the bankruptcy of Enron, will testify in the first part of the hearing. A private lunch with the billionaire is on the table if you're willing to pony up the cash.

☆ Send Sam Bankman-Fried to prison, Elon Musk suggests, while Binance's boss calls him a 'master manipulator'. 8 top figures weigh in on the disgraced FTX founder.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Zahra Tayeb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is racking up critics after the implosion of his crypto exchange. Here's what top voices like Elon Musk, Bill Ackman and Binance boss CZ have said, in 8 top quotes. Now the crypto CEO is under fire from all sides, from Elon Musk and Bill Ackman to "Shark Tank" investor Mark Cuban. Given that, the crypto exchange boss said he feels like the mainstream media has given Bankman-Fried softball interviews. The crypto bull believes Bankman-Fried will probably end up in jail, but doesn't think he was acting alone.

☆ CZ says Sam Bankman-Fried was unhinged when Binance pulled out of earlier FTX investment - but SBF shoots back: 'There's no need to lie'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Binance pulled out of its investment deal with FTX over 18 months ago, and CEO CZ said Sam Bankman-Fried was "unhinged." "As an early investor in FTX, we became increasingly uncomfortable with Alameda/SBF," CZ wrote on Twitter. Bankman-Fried responded to CZ with a tweet of his own: "There's no need to lie." Binance became an early investor in FTX three years ago, before later exiting, as CZ noted Friday. In early November, Binance agreed to takeover FTX, which was struggling with a liquidity crisis, but backed off a day later, with CZ later saying FTX was beyond saving.

☆ Lawyers for FTX customers accuse debtors of failing to file full financial disclosures
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Lawyers at Eversheds Sutherland represent FTX's non-US customers – 98% of its 1.2 million users. The lawyers say that Chapter 11 debtors should file full financial disclosures. The law firm Eversheds Sutherland represents the Ad Hoc Committee of Non-US Customers of FTX.com, established to protect users outside the US. Erin Broderick, an attorney at Evershed Sutherland, said "Chapter 11 debtors are typically required to file full financial disclosures shortly after the bankruptcy filing." Adam Landis, the lawyer representing FTX and its entities, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Three people close to FTX and Bankman-Fried told CNBC that the former CEO lobbied aggressively for a partnership with 11-time Grammy Award winner Taylor Swift. Bankman-Fried's commitment to getting the Swift deal done despite the deteriorating business environment fit a pattern of ignoring his lieutenants and going it alone, a half-dozen former company insiders and business partners said. The Financial Times reported earlier that FTX held talks with Swift about a potential sponsorship. Part of the Swift deal would have included the production by the singer of a collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), or digital items that can rise and fall in value. Beyond that, there was a lack of clarity over what Swift would be doing for the company, sources said.

☆ EY sees other Big Four firms mirroring its proposed split
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Splitting EY into separate accounting and consultancy businesses will help pay rising technology bills and "inevitably" be copied by rival "Big Four" firms, a top EY official told a Reuters Breakingviews podcast. "It was an appropriate time to dust down the work we did before," Baldwin said. Some of the other Big Four firms have said they have no plans to copy EY. Critics caution that splitting the business could see the auditing side suffer in the shadow of what is traditionally more lucrative consulting work. EY says the split will make it easier to raise capital to invest and create two more agile companies.

Bankman-Fried could face a host of potential charges – civil and criminal – as well as private lawsuits from millions of FTX creditors, legal experts told CNBC. There are three different, possibly simultaneous legal threats that Bankman-Fried faces in the United States alone, Levin told CNBC. He told CNBC, "prosecutors would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Bankman-Fried or his associates committed criminal fraud." (Carter was not an FTX investor, and told CNBC that his fund passed on early FTX rounds.) "People should not jump to the conclusion that something is not happening just because it has not been publicly disclosed," Levin told CNBC.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried says he 'misaccounted' $8 billion after FTX customers wired money to hedge fund Alameda and the cash was counted twice
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Sam Bankman-Fried showed a Bloomberg reporter a spreadsheet of company finances. The former billionaire – who now says he's down to his last $100,000 – showed Bloomberg's Zeke Faux a spreadsheet of FTX and Alameda's accounts. When the Bloomberg reporter asked Bankman-Fried if he had "misplaced $8 billion," the FTX founder replied: "Misaccounted." Then, FTX's internal accounting system counted this money twice by crediting it to both companies. Ray, who also handled Enron's bankruptcy, said FTX is full of "inexperienced" executives and demonstrates a "complete failure of corporate controls."

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried urges crypto investors to put their money in exchanges that don't do business like FTX
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( George Glover | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Sam Bankman-Fried said that crypto investors should look for "all the things I wish FTX had been able to supply" when depositing their funds. He called on exchanges to provide proof of reserves and regulatory reporting of assets and liabilities. Sign up for our newsletter to get the inside scoop on what traders are talking about — delivered daily to your inbox. "If I were a customer here, which is look for the things that I wish FTX had been able to supply." Read more: Sam Bankman-Fried said he doesn't think he's criminally liable for FTX's implosion, but that his lawyers don't want him speaking publicly

☆ Factbox: Crypto companies crash into bankruptcy
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Dietrich Knauth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The price of bitcoin has dropped 65% since the start of the year, the cryptocurrency Luna suffered a total collapse in value, and crypto exchange FTX went from buying Super Bowl ads to crash landing into bankruptcy. Here are the major crypto companies that have gone bankrupt in 2022. BLOCKFICrypto lender BlockFi was the first crypto company to follow FTX into bankruptcy, filing for Chapter 11 about two weeks after FTX's collapse. The proposed sale fell through following FTX's implosion, and Voyager reopened discussions with other potential buyers, including the crypto exchange Binance. Celsius' bankruptcy judge has appointed an examiner to investigate whether Celsius operated as a Ponzi scheme and to broadly review the company's finances.

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