Authorities with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission as well as prosecutors are reportedly investigating former FTX engineering director Nishad Singh for potentially having a role in defrauding investors and users. According to a Jan. 5 report from Bloomberg, U.S. officials were looking at individuals in former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s inner circle in their criminal probe of the exchange’s collapse. Bankman-Fried has pled not guilty to all criminal charges against him, but former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang reached plea deals with prosecutors in December, admitting to fraud …

Daniel Friedberg, controversial lawyer who served as top compliance chief at now-defunkt exchange FTX, has reportedly cooperated with United States’ prosecutors investigating FTX collapse. Friedberg provided details about FTX in a meeting with two dozen investigators hold by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York's (SDNY) office on Nov. 22, Reuters reported. The meeting included officials from the Justice Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the report notes, citing a source familiar with the matter. At the meeting, Friedberg provided prosecutors with his knowledge of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's use of …

The FTX debacle has triggered a bank run on Silvergate, causing the company to sell off its assets at a loss and cut staff by 40% to cover $8.1 billion worth of customer withdrawals. According to a report published by the Wall Street Journal, the bank liquidated debt that it was holding on its balance sheet to keep up with withdrawals, losing $718 million in the process. The loss reportedly surpasses the firm’s profits since 2013. In addition, crypto-related deposits in the firm have dropped by 68% in the fourth quarter of last year. Because of this, Silvergate dismissed around …

The United States Departure of Justice has reportedly seized or was in the process of seizing more than $400 million worth of Robinhood shares linked to FTX as part of the case against the crypto exchange. According to a Jan. 4 report from Reuters, U.S. officials told a judge they were in the process of seizing assets tied to FTX and its former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, which included 56 million shares of Robinhood — worth roughly $468 million at the time of publication. The report followed a judge in the criminal case against SBF ordering him not to access or …

At the time of publication, the United States House of Representatives was at a historic standstill in its process of choosing a Speaker for the 118th Congress — a quagmire that could lead to lawmakers delaying committee hearings. As of Jan. 4, California Representative Kevin McCarthy lost the fifth round of votes to become the next Speaker of the House following Republicans taking majority control of the chamber in the 2022 midterm elections. This marked a rare occurrence — only 15 times in the entire history of Congress since 1789 — when more than one round of voting was required …

During a year plagued by crises such as the collapse of FTX and Celsius, data shows that crypto exchange Binance has emerged as the clear “winner” of 2022 according to Arcane Research. A Jan. 3 report from Arcane highlighted that Binance saw its market dominance soar throughout 2022. As of Dec. 28 last year it had captured 92% of the Bitcoin (BTC) spot market and 61% of the BTC derivatives market by volume: “There are no other evident ‘winners’ of 2022 other than Binance when it comes to the crypto market structure and market dominance. No matter how you look …

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) has formed an FTX Task Force to “trace and recover” missing customer funds, as well as handle investigations and prosecutions related to the exchange’s collapse. The announcement came via a statement from U.S. Attorney Damian Williams who is the federal prosecutor in the FTX case involving founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Charges from the Manhattan attorney’s office against Bankman-Fried include wire and securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, money laundering and violation of campaign finance laws. “The Southern District of New York is working around the …

The Bahamas will have legal representation in the unfolding FTX case. The Caribbean nation chose Brown Rudnick as counsel “in certain matters of engagement related to the collapse of FTX Digital Markets Ltd.,” alongside Bahamian lawyers and other experts, according to a statement released by the law firm. FTX Digital Markets is headquartered in the Bahamas, and the top management of the company lived in that country. Cases against the members of the management team are now being heard in the United States after former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s extradition from the Bahamas. Brown Rudnick has been working for the Bahamas …

Former FTX chief executive officer Sam Bankman-Fried has pled not guilty to all charges he’s facing including wire fraud, securities fraud, and violations of campaign finance laws. Multiple observers in the United States District Court in the Southern District of New York on Jan. 3 reported that Bankman-Fried’s attorneys had entered a not guilty plea on SBF’s behalf in his first court appearance since December. Bankman-Fried faces eight criminal counts which could result in 115 years in jail should he be convicted. Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon, one of the prosecutors in the case against the former FTX executive, reportedly …

2022 saw the fall of many linchpin crypto and blockchain firms as the May market drawdown shook the industry. It caused many cryptocurrencies to lose value and many investors to pull their money from the market. Furthermore, the unprecedented knock-on effects of the meltdown exposed many blockchain and cryptocurrency firms that were ill-prepared for turbulent times. However, a collective of companies was able to resist negative market forces and grow amidst the turbulence. The crypto market as a whole continues to grow and has now reached 320 million users. As we look back on a year full of surprises, we …

The legal team behind former FTX chief executive officer Sam Bankman-Fried has petitioned a court to redact certain information on individuals acting as sureties for his $250-million bond, citing threats made against his family. In a letter dated Jan. 3 filed to Judge Lewis Kaplan for the United States District Court in the Southern District of New York, Bankman-Fried’s legal team requested the court order “names and other identifying information” of two bail sureties not be disclosed to the public and redacted from bonds once they were signed on Jan. 5. Mark Cohen of the law firm Cohen & Gresser …

As liquidity issues surround the Digital Currency Group (DCG), Three Arrows Capital (3AC) founder Su Zhu made a Twitter thread containing allegations against DCG and FTX. However, the founder immediately got called out by the crypto community for blaming others and not taking accountability. In the thread, Zhu alleged that DCG had a role in the collapse of LUNA, now called Terra Classic (LUNC). Zhu claimed that the venture capital firm conspired with the FTX exchange to attack LUNC and made a profit by doing so. The 3AC founder also said that instead of restructuring from losses due to the …