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☆ U.S. imposes sanctions on MS-13 gang members in Nicaragua, Honduras
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Wednesday on two members of the international criminal gang MS-13, accusing them of involvement in drug trafficking and murder in Central America and the United States. The sanctions against the two individuals -- an MS-13 leader in Honduras and an associate with the gang in Nicaragua -- are part of a broader U.S. government effort to disrupt the group's activities and financing, the department said in a statement. "Treasury's sanctions against MS-13 aim to interrupt its use of the financial system to launder illicit proceeds," department official Brian E. Nelson said. The leader in Honduras, Archaga Caria, has distributed cocaine from that country to the United States, and has ordered the murders of rival gang members, the department said. The MS-13 associate, Campbell Licona, used businesses the gang owned or controlled to launder drug proceeds, including through U.S. banks, the department said.

☆ Australia's biggest state unveils plan for cashless poker machines
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, Feb 6 (Reuters) - The leader of Australia's most populous state on Monday unveiled a plan to make all poker machines cashless within five years to fight money laundering and problem gambling, setting up a political battle ahead of a state election next month. New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet said his government would make every poker machine cashless by 2028 and offer interest-free loans for pubs and clubs to buy new cashless gambling machines that would only allow players to bet from a bank account. Perrottet said his proposal "solves problem gambling, solves money laundering, protects jobs and industries". Australia, with a population of 25 million, has about one-fifth of the world's 1 million legal poker machines, according to think tank the Australia Institute. The centre-left Labor state opposition has stopped short of calling for mandatory cashless poker machines, saying only that it would support a limited trial of the measure.

☆ Brazil readies task force to expel miners from Yanomami lands, officials say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Anthony Boadle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] A village of indigenous Yanomami is seen during Brazil's environmental agency operation against illegal gold mining on indigenous land, in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, in Roraima state, Brazil April 18, 2016. REUTERS/Bruno Kelly/File PhotoBRASILIA, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Brazil is preparing a task force of armed forces, police and government agencies to expel illegal gold miners who invaded the Yanomami indigenous reservation, officials said on Tuesday. Defense Minister Jose Mucio said the military is needed to drive out the miners, who are well armed and have helicopters. Wapichana said the task force, as in past offensives against illegal miners, will involve the Federal Police, environmental protection agency Ibama, Funai and several ministries, as well as the military. Wapichana said the government will move against the organized crime and financial groups that supply and fund the illegal mining, and launder the gold.

☆ (OFFICIAL) FBI says N. Korea-related hacker group behind U.S. crypto firm heist
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

On Jan. 13, North Korean cyber actors used a privacy protocol called Railgun to launder over $60 million worth of ethereum stolen during the theft in June, the FBI said in a statement. A portion of the stolen ethereum was subsequently sent to several virtual asset providers and converted to bitcoin, the FBI said. The FBI said North Korea's theft and laundering of virtual currency is used to support its ballistic missile and Weapons of Mass Destruction programs. Reuters in June reported that North Korean hackers were most likely behind the attack on Harmony, citing three digital investigative firms. Reporting by Sneha Bhowmik in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ FBI says N. Korea-related hacker groups behind U.S. crypto firm heist
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 23 (Reuters) - Two hacker groups associated with North Korea, the Lazarus Group and APT38, were responsible for the theft last June of $100 million from U.S. crypto firm Harmony's Horizon bridge, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Monday. The FBI said North Korea's theft and laundering of virtual currency is used to support its ballistic missile and Weapons of Mass Destruction programs. Reuters in June reported that North Korean hackers were most likely behind the attack on Harmony, citing three digital investigative firms. Harmony develops blockchains for decentralized finance - peer-to-peer sites that offer loans and other services without traditional gatekeepers such as banks - and non-fungible tokens. Reporting by Sneha Bhowmik in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ North Korea-linked hackers behind $100 million crypto heist, FBI says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The FBI claims North Korea-linked hackers were behind a $100 million crypto heist on the so-called Horizon bridge last year. North Korean-linked actors were behind the theft of $100 million through the hack of a crypto product last year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said. The FBI also said that the North Korean cyber actors this month used the Railgun system to launder over $60 million worth of the token ether stolen during the June 2022 heist. A portion of the stolen ether was sent to several virtual asset service providers and converted to bitcoin, the FBI said. Last year, the U.S. Treasury Department blamed Lazarus for a $600 million heist on Ronin Network, a so-called "sidechain" for popular crypto game Axie Infinity.

☆ How 'Cryptoqueen' Ruja Ignatova ended up as the only woman on the FBI's most-wanted list
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Faith Karimi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

Ruja Ignatova is one of the FBI's 10 most-wanted fugitives -- the only woman currently on that list. FBIShe is now one of the FBI’s 10 most-wanted fugitives, alongside accused gang leaders and murderers, and is the only woman currently on that list. The bureau declined to provide additional details to CNN beyond court documents from the US Department of Justice, which did not list an attorney for Ignatova. “The cryptocurrency OneCoin was established for the sole purpose of defrauding investors,” IRS Special Agent John R. Tafur said in a statement. Less than two weeks later, on October 25, 2017, she boarded a commercial flight from Sofia, Bulgaria, to Athens, Greece, court documents said.

On a larger exchange like Binance or Coinbase , for example, many customers opt to let the platform custody their crypto tokens. In the four years that Bitzlato operated, only $52 million moved directly from the exchange to Binance, the same dataset shows. CNBC reviewed transaction data for the ten largest recipients of Bitzlato outflows, which collected over $45 million in Bitzlato-originated funds. Those wallets also received millions more in funds from other exchanges, including Huobi, FTX, Poloniex, Nexo, and WhiteBIT, a Ukrainian exchange. We also asked whether Binance was aware that Bitzlato was allegedly used to launder money and, if so, why funds from Bitzlato were custodied on its platform.

The U.S. has arrested a Russian national and founder of a cryptocurrency exchange on charges of allegedly laundering more than $700 million, the Department of Justice said Wednesday. Anatoly Legkodymov, the founder of Bitzlato, a Hong Kong-registered cryptocurrency exchange that touted its lax approach to verifying customers’ identity, was arrested in Miami Tuesday night. The Treasury Department also declared Bitzlato a “Primary Money Laundering Concern,” an extreme measure rarely used against financial institutions. “If the U.S. Treasury Department designates a financial institution as a ‘Primary Money Laundering Concern,’ the goal is to isolate them,” Redbord said. “Being cut off from the U.S. financial system, not being able to transact in U.S. dollars, is essentially a death sentence.”

Even as overall crypto transaction volumes fell, the value of crypto transactions related to illicit activity rose for the second year running, Chainalysis said. Transactions associated with sanctioned entities increased more than 100,000-fold in 2022 and made up 44% of last year's illicit activity, Chainalysis said. The volume of stolen crypto funds rose 7% last year, but other illicit crypto transactions including those related to scams, ransomware, terrorism financing and human trafficking, saw volumes fall. "We've found in the past that crypto scams, for instance, take in less revenue during bear markets." Chainalysis said its $20.1 billion estimate only includes activity recorded on blockchain, and excludes "off-chain" crime such as fraudulent accounting by crypto firms.

☆ Ukraine says a team of military surgeons removed an unexploded grenade from inside the body of a Ukrainian soldier
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

A Ukrainian surgeon successfully removed a live grenade from inside a soldier's chest. The Armed Forces of Ukraine tweeted that the grenade could have detonated "at any moment." The surgery went well and the wounded soldier has been sent to recovery, Ukraine's military said. Two sappers were on hand to handle the live grenade after it was removed from the soldier's chest, according to Ukraine's armed forces. The Armed Forces of Ukraine tweeted that "everything went well — the wounded man has already been sent for rehabilitation and recovery."

☆ Saudi Arabia's new love for soccer could cause ripple effects across the sports world
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo poses for a photo with the jersey after signing with Saudi Arabia's Al-Nassr Football Club in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on December 30, 2022. Al Nassr Football Club / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesSoccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo's move to Saudi club Al-Nassr, and the kingdom's growing investments in the sport, could have ripple effects across Europe and the U.S., experts have told CNBC. The former Real Madrid, Manchester United and Juventus star earlier this week contended that the "unique contract" was befitting of his status as a "unique player." The Financial Times reported in October that the Saudi PIF had committed more than $2 billion to sponsorship deals over the first eight months of 2022, most of which was directed toward domestic soccer competitions. The Saudi PIF's takeover of Newcastle United was met with criticism across the soccer world — deemed an effort to launder the country's reputation against the backdrop of a poor human rights record.

He is scheduled to appear at 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT) before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan. Bankman-Fried has admitted to making mistakes running FTX but said he did not believe he was criminally liable. The prosecution case was strengthened by last month's guilty pleas of two of Bankman-Fried's closest associates. Caroline Ellison, who was Alameda's chief executive, and Gary Wang, FTX's former chief technology officer, pleaded guilty to seven and four criminal charges, respectively, and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Bankman-Fried, Ellison and Wang were also sued by the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Bankman-Fried is accused of illegally using FTX customer deposits to support his Alameda Research hedge fund, buy real estate and make millions of dollars in political contributions. He is scheduled to appear at 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT) on Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan to enter a plea. It is not unusual for criminal defendants to initially plead not guilty. Bankman-Fried has admitted to making mistakes running FTX but said he did not believe he was criminally liable. The prosecution case was strengthened by last month's guilty pleas of two of Bankman-Fried's closest associates.

☆ Bankman-Fried set to enter initial not guilty plea in FTX fraud case -source
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Jack Queen | Industry Insight | Saw Law Firms Move Past The Pandemic Into A More Client-Focused Service Environment | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Bankman-Fried is accused of illegally using FTX customer deposits to support his Alameda Research hedge fund, buy real estate and make millions of dollars in political contributions. He is scheduled to appear at 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT) on Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan to enter a plea. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate has been charged with two counts of wire fraud and six conspiracy counts, including to launder money and commit campaign finance violations. Bankman-Fried has admitted to making mistakes running FTX but said he did not believe he was criminally liable. Reporting by Jack Queen; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

NEW YORK, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Sam Bankman-Fried is expected to enter a plea next week to criminal charges he defrauded investors and looted billions of dollars in customer funds at his failed FTX cryptocurrency exchange. Kaplan was assigned to the case on Tuesday, after the original judge recused herself because her husband's law firm had advised FTX before its collapse. Before his Dec. 12 arrest, Bankman-Fried acknowledged risk-management failures at FTX, but said he did not believe he was criminally liable. Two of his associates, former Alameda chief executive Caroline Ellison and former FTX chief technology officer Gary Wang, have pleaded guilty over their roles in FTX's collapse and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Its new chief executive, John Ray, told Congress on Dec. 13 that the exchange lost $8 billion of customer money while being run by "grossly inexperienced, non-sophisticated individuals."

☆ Elon Musk's Tesla, the world's leading EV maker, is capping off 2022 as one of the S&P 500's worst-performing stocks.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

But to Musk, prices have already started dropping, which eliminates the need for the Fed to keep rates so high. If it was all [interest] rates, NDX would be down a similar amount," Black tweeted at Musk. Ultimately, Tesla investors shouldn't feel alone in their pain amid downtrodden stock prices this year. How has your view of Tesla stock changed since October? Their managers told us how they overcame a brutal year for the stock market, and shared the stock picks that worked best.

☆ A global drug cartel used Binance to launder millions, the DEA says. Here's how the world's largest crypto exchange is reportedly working with investigators to track them down.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A global drug cartel allegedly used Binance to launder tens of millions, an ongoing DEA investigation alleges. Roughly $15 million to $40 million in illicit profits could have been funneled through Binance, according to Forbes, which obtained a search warrant. Here's how the largest crypto exchange in the world is reportedly working with investigators. Between $15 million to $40 million has been laundered through the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, according to Forbes, citing a search warrant it obtained. Binance, which announced plans earlier this year to buy a minority stake in Forbes, is working with investigators to help track down suspects.

Krystal Rolle, a lawyer who has represented Bankman-Fried on other matters in the Bahamas, told Reuters Bankman-Fried had decided to consent to be extradited to the United States. After the hearing, Bankman-Fried was remanded back to the custody of the Bahamas' Department of Corrections. During Monday's hearing, Bankman-Fried, dressed in a dark blue jacket and an untucked white shirt, spoke only to greet Magistrate Shaka Serville and confirm he would speak with his U.S. counsel. Roberts told Serville initially that he did not know why Bankman-Fried was brought to court on Monday morning. When the hearing concluded, Bankman-Fried was given the chance to speak on the phone with his U.S. defense lawyer with Roberts present.

When the hearing concluded, Bankman-Fried was given the chance to speak on the phone with his U.S. defense lawyer with Roberts present. After the hearing, Bankman-Fried was remanded back to the custody of the Bahamas' Department of Corrections. [1/9] The Founder and former CEO of crypto currency exchange FTX Sam Bankman-Fried leaves the Magistrate Court building in Nassau, Bahamas December 19, 2022. Roberts told Serville initially that he did not know why Bankman-Fried was brought to court on Monday morning. Following a recess, the lawyer said Bankman-Fried wanted to see the indictment before consenting to extradition.

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. [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. Bankman-Fried's defense lawyer initially told Serville that he did not know why Bankman-Fried was brought to court on Monday morning. Following a recess, the lawyer said that Bankman-Fried wanted to see the indictment before consenting to extradition. Mark Cohen, a U.S. lawyer who represents Bankman-Fried, did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

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.

☆ South Carolina lawyer accused of killing family indicted for tax evasion
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Tyler Clifford | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Alex Murdaugh, 54, the scion of a South Carolina legal dynasty, is accused of willful attempt to evade state taxes on millions of dollars in income between 2011 and 2019. The new charges are in addition to dozens of state charges, including embezzlement and murder, brought by a Colleton County grand jury. Murdaugh is accused of fraudulently making nearly $7 million, which was left off on annual tax filings with the state, according to the indictment. He is suspected of skipping out on more than $486,800 in payments owed to South Carolina. He faces two counts of murder and two counts of possession of a weapon in connection with the murders.

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.

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