Fraud
Former Bithumb Executive Arrested Under Embezzlement Allegations
- The former chairman of crypto exchange Bithumb, Kang Jong-Hyun, was arrested in South Korea on charges of embezzlement, breach of trust, and market manipulation.
- Seoul’s Southern District Court had issued an arrest warrant for Jong-Hyun and two other executives last week, one of which is the CEO of two Bithumb affiliates.
10 hours ago
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BonqDAO Exploited for $90M
- A hacker was able to manipulate the price of the AllianceBlock token on BonqDAO, which allowed him to drain close to $90 million worth of crypto from the protocol.
- Both platforms have paused their services, and are currently in the process of removing liquidity as to hinder the hacker’s ability to convert the stolen tokens.
13 hours ago
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Independent Examiner Finds Celsius Used New Customer Funds to Pay for Withdrawals
- A 700-page report from an independent examiner claims that Celsius concealed the extent to which it was market-making its own CEL token.
- The examiner also found instances where Celsius used new customer funds to cover the liabilities of other customers, a behavior described as “very Ponzi like”.
January 31, 2023, 2:55 PM
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Australian Regulator had Concerns Over FTX Months Before Collapse
- Australia’s financial regulator raised concerns over some products offered by FTX Australia shortly after it began operating in the country.
- Internal documents show the regulator requested information from the exchange three times, and that FTX Australia was under “surveillance activity” prior to its collapse.
January 30, 2023, 1:11 PM
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Jan 26, 2023
FTX’s Creditor List Includes Big Tech, Airlines, Government Agencies
- Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has filed a massive 115 page document listing every entity the company owes money to, from Big Tech players to government agencies.
- The names of close to 9.7 million individual customers were redacted from the document as per Judge John Dorsey’s instructions.
Jan 19, 2023
Bitzlato and its Founder Charged With Laundering $700M
- The U.S. Department of Justice worked together with the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Treasury Department, and French authorities to take down the laundering operation.
- Crypto Twitter, however, was not impressed with the “major international cryptocurrency enforcement action” against the little known platform.
Jan 18, 2023
FTX Debtors Identify $5.5B in Liquid Assets
- FTX’s debtors said it took a “herculean investigative effort” to identify the $5.5 billion in liquid assets connected to the exchange.
- $1.7 billion in cash, $3.5 billion in crypto, and $300 million in securities has been found so far, with the debtors noting there was a “substantial shortfall of digital assets” at FTX.com and FTX.US.
Jan 16, 2023
North Korean Hackers Move 41,000 ETH Stolen From Harmony
- North Korea’s Lazarus Group has moved around $63.5 million of crypto assets connected to the Harmony bridge hack over the weekend.
- The hackers tried to move a portion of the funds through Binance and Huobi, but the exchanges were able to freeze their account and recover around 124 BTC.
Jan 12, 2023
Authorities Reportedly Raid Nexo’s Bulgarian Offices
- The probe into Nexo’s activities in Bulgaria was launched several months ago, after international services detected suspicious transactions aimed at circumventing Russian sanctions.
- Reports suggest that Nexo is also being investigated for allegedly committing major financial crimes, and participating in money laundering activities.
Jan 9, 2023
DoJ Seizes 55M Robinhood Shares Connected to Sam Bankman-Fried
- The U.S. Department of Justice has seized close to $470 million in Robinhood stock, and an additional $20 million in U.S. currency, as part of its criminal case against Sam Bankman-Fried.
- Lawyers for SBF argued last week that the Robinhood shares were bought legitimately by SBF, using money borrowed from Alameda, and that he was relying on them to fund his defense.