Eddy Alexandre, CEO of purported crypto trading platform EminiFX has pleaded guilty to commodities fraud in a New York district court, agreeing to pay back millions to investors who lost funds to his "cryptocurrency investment scam. The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Feb. 10 that Alexandre submitted a guilty plea to one count of commodities fraud, and will pay over $248 million in forfeiture along with restitution yet to be specified. Alexandre was arrested and charged in May 2022 over his role in EminiFX and originally pleaded not guilty, but changed his plea on Feb. 10. He …

Ishan Wahi, a former product manager at Coinbase Global Inc., has admitted to two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a case that U.S. prosecutors have labeled as the first insider trading case involving cryptocurrency. Ex-Coinbase manager pleads guilty in insider trading case https://t.co/i6fG3c3wHc pic.twitter.com/zKfjqnNpzT — Reuters (@Reuters) February 7, 2023 According to a report by Reuters, the prosecutors claimed that Wahi disclosed private information to his brother Nikhil and friend Sameer Ramani, regarding imminent announcements of new digital assets that Coinbase would enable users to trade. The announcement later caused assets to rise in value, allowing Nikhil …

The co-founder of Web3 metaverse game engine “Webaverse” has revealed they were victims of a $4 million crypto h after meeting with scammers posing as investors in a hotel lobby in Rome. The bizarre aspect of the story, according to co-founder Ahad Shams, is that the crypto was stolen from a newly set up Trust Wallet and that the hack took place during the meeting at some point. He claims the thieves could not have possibly seen the private key, nor was he connected to a public WiFi network at the time. The thieves were somehow able to gain access …

Sam Bankman-Fried’s (SBF's) lawyers have reached an agreement with federal prosecutors concerning his use of messaging apps. According to a Feb. 6 court document, both parties have agreed SBF “shall not use any encrypted or ephemeral call of messaging application, including but not limited to Signal.” However, under the agreement, the former FTX CEO will be able to access FaceTime, Zoom, iMessage, SMS text, email and Facebook Messenger. He will also be allowed to use the encrypted messaging service WhatsApp but only if “monitoring technology is installed on his cellphone that automatically logs and preserves all WhatsApp communications.” The latest …

The New Jersey Bureau of Securities has ordered three website operators to stop luring romance-seeking victims into their fraudulent cryptocurrency investment schemes. The three firms hit with the cease and desist orders were Meta Capitals Limited, Cresttrademining Limited and Forex Market Trade, according to a Feb. 3 press release from New Jersey’s Attorney General Matthew Platkin. All three firms claimed to be cryptocurrency trading platforms, where they would allegedly entice victims into copying the trades of their “expert traders” so that they can make big returns. But to get them into the scheme, these companies often resort to romance seekers …

An economic bubble is a time of fast economic expansion that is driven by speculative enthusiasm and excessively high asset prices. A bubble is characterized by an increase in demand for an asset, such as commodities, stocks or real estate, which drives up its price. A number of factors, including easy access to credit, low interest rates and investor optimism, frequently combine to create financial bubbles. The asset’s price rises as more individuals invest in it, luring even more capital. Its price eventually falls below a level that can be sustained, which causes a sell-off and a sharp collapse in …

The United Kingdom is host to at least 168 companies accused of running fraudulent crypto or foreign exchange (forex) scams according to an independent analysis. A Jan. 29 joint investigation by media firms the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Observer suggested organized crime groups are using the U.K. as their base due to its “lax regulation.” The actual number of U.K.-based crypto or forex companies involved in scams is likely far greater than 168 as the number was calculated by reviewing lists of suspected shell companies and cross-referencing them with reports of fraudulent activity on various websites. Around half …

Founder of “My Big Coin” and convicted fraudster Randall Crater has been sentenced to 100 months in prison and has been ordered to pay over $7.6 million to the victims of his fraudulent scheme. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Jan. 31 that Crater was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Denise Casper in Massachusetts. The sentence comes around six months after Crater was convicted by a federal jury on Jul. 21, 2022, on four counts of wire fraud, three counts of unlawful monetary transactions and one count of operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Randall Crater, the …

Federal prosecutors have requested that former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's (SBF) bail conditions are modified to prevent further alleged attempts at influencing witnesses’ testimonies. Court documents filed on Jan. 27 revealed that The Department of Justice (DOJ) have asked U.S. District Court Judge LewiKaplan to ban Bankman-Fried from communicating with “current or former employees” of FTX or Alameda. The prosecutors have requested this after they alleged that Bankman-Fried had reached out to Ryne Miller, the current General Counsel of FTX US, on Jan. 15 attempting to “influence” Miller’s testimony. The document stated: “I would really love to reconnect and see …

Azuki, a popular nonfungible token (NFT) project, had its Twitter account compromised on Jan. 27 leading to hackers stealing over $750,000 worth of USD Coin (USDC) by posting a malicious “wallet drainer link” posed as a virtual land mint. Hackers stole $751,321.80 USDC from a single wallet within half an hour of the malicious links being tweeted, according to Etherscan data provided to Cointelegraph by crypto wallet security firm Wallet Guard. The data also revealed that hackers stole a further $6,752.62 worth of USDC from various wallets holding 11 NFTs and over 3.9 Ether (ETH). Wallet Guard stated that the …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has followed the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and others in filing parallel charges against the crypto user allegedly behind a multimillion dollar exploit of decentralized exchange Mango Markets. In a Jan. 20 notice, the SEC alleged Avraham Eisenberg manipulated Mango Markets’ MNGO governance token, allowing him to steal roughly $116 million worth of cryptocurrency from the platform. According to the complain, Eisenberg allegedly executed a series of large MNGO purchases in order to artificially raise the price of the token relative to USD Coin (USDC), then drained the assets from Mango Markets. “Eisenberg …

Law firm Sullivan & Cromwell have contradicted themselves when they claim that shuttered crypto exchange FTX.US is insolvent, according to former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (also known as “SBF”) in a January 17 blog post that was shared on Twitter. FTX US is solvent, as it always as been.https://t.co/XjcyYFsoU0 pic.twitter.com/kn9Wm9wxjl — SBF (@SBF_FTX) January 18, 2023 The law firm was hired by FTX Group to handle the bankruptcy proceedings of several of its subsidiaries, including FTX International, Alameda Research, and FTX.US. However, Sam Bankman-Fried has stated on several occasions that he believes FTX.US is solvent and should not have declared bankruptcy. …