In January, the brother of a former Coinbase product manager was sentenced to 10 months in prison for wire fraud conspiracy in what prosecutors called the first case of insider trading involving cryptocurrencies. In September 2022, Nikhil Wahi entered a guilty plea for executing trades based on private data obtained from his brother, Ishan Wahi, a former product manager for Coinbase. Most countries have laws against insider trading, which carry stiff penalties like jail time and heavy fines. The recent insider trading investigation against crypto exchanges by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission indicates that regulatory bodies are prepared …

The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO), a.k.a, Interpol, is investigating how it could police crimes in the metaverse. However, a top Interpol executive believes there are issues with defining a metaverse crime. Interpol’s intent to oversee criminal activities on the metaverse was revealed by secretary general Jurgen Stock, according to BBC. Stock highlighted the ability of “sophisticated and professional” criminals to adapt to new technological tools for committing crimes. The move for policing metaverse comes nearly four months after the international organization launched its own metaverse in October 2022, at the 90th Interpol General Assembly in New Delhi, India. During …

Google Cloud has reportedly invested $300 million into artificial intelligence (AI) startup firm Anthropic, which also happened to receive over $500 million in funds from former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried about six months before FTX catastrophically collapsed. While the $300 million figure was reported by Financial Times on Feb. 4, Anthropic confirmed the investment partnership with Google Cloud on the same day despite not disclosing any figures: We're excited to use Google Cloud to train our AI systems, including Claude! https://t.co/IaqQ5lpJrP https://t.co/vOn5Cj4sPt — Anthropic (@AnthropicAI) February 3, 2023 In the same announcement, Anthropic also confirmed that they previously raised capital …

Lawyers representing a crypto user allegedly behind a $116-million exploit of decentralized exchange Mango Markets have consented to detention in the criminal case involving commodities fraud, commodities market manipulation and wire fraud. According to accounts of social media users present on Feb. 2, Mango Markets user Avraham Eisenberg’s legal team waived his right to bail at a hearing in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Federal Judge Richard Betman, who will be presiding over the criminal case, has reportedly set a followup court date for Feb. 14, suggesting that Eisenberg may remain in detention until at …

The suspected real owner of South Korea’s largest crypto exchange Bithumb has been arrested on alleged embezzlement charges on Feb. 2 local time. According to local media reports, Kang Jong-hyun was arrested on charges of alleged embezzlement. The Seoul Southern District Court issued an arrest warrant for the businessman on Jan. 25 with multiple charges, including dereliction of duty, market manipulation, and fraudulent transactions. The 41-year-old is the elder brother of Kang Ji-yeon, the head of Bithumb affiliate Inbiogen. The firm holds the largest share in Vidente Vidente, which is the biggest shareholder of Bithumb with a 34.2% stake. According …

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 …

United States prosecutors in the criminal case against former FTX chief executive officer Sam Bankman-Fried have released text and email messages from SBF to current CEO John Ray. In court documents for the Southern District of New York released on Jan. 30, the Justice Department responded to a motion from Bankman-Fried’s legal team attempting to remove some of the proposed modifications for his bail conditions, which included barring contact with former and current FTX employees. According to prosecutors, SBF attempted to contact both current FTX CEO John Ray and FTX US general counsel Ryne Miller. In an email to Ray …

The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, or Europol, has reported authorities took control of crypto wallets containing more than $19 million in cryptocurrency as part of enforcement actions against crypto firm Bitzlato. In a Jan. 23 announcement, Europol reported that roughly 46% of assets — 1 billion euro, or $1.09 billion at the time of publication — moved through Bitzlato were linked to illicit activities. The government agency’s analysis suggested that Bitzlato received more than 2.1 billion euro in cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Dash (DASH), and Dogecoin (DOGE), much of which was converted into Russian rubles. “While 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 …

After the collapse of major cryptocurrency exchange FTX in November 2022, former CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried was arrested by Bahaman authorities on Dec. 12. Just a day later, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed charges against him for allegedly defrauding investors and violating securities laws. On Dec. 22, Bankman-Fried was granted bail on a $250 million bond paid by his parents against the equity in their house. The bail order added that he would require “strict pretrial supervision,” including mental health treatment and evaluation. The former CEO faces eight criminal counts in the …

The United States Department of Justice is expected to announce a “major international cryptocurrency enforcement action.” According to a Jan. 18 announcement, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco will lead a press conference in which the Justice Department will announce a major enforcement action — now believed to be against the crypto firm Bitzlato. The U.S. Treasury Department is also expected to announce a similar enforcement action. Other speakers at the event will include Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite of the Department of Justice's criminal division, U.S. Attorney Breon Peace of the Eastern District of New York, FBI Associate Deputy …

Former FTX US President Brett Harrison has lashed out at Sam Bankman-Fried for manipulating and threatening colleagues who proposed solutions to reorganize FTX US' management structure. Harrison shared his experiences with Bankman-Fried and FTX US on Dec. 14, explaining how he was hired “casually over text” in Mar. 2021 after working together at New York-based trading firm Jane Street for a few years. But six months into Harrison's tenure at FTX US, “cracks began to form” between the two, he said. Despite recalling Bankman-Fried to be a “sensitive and intellectually curious person” at first, Harrison said he saw “total insecurity …