A 19-year old man has been indicted for identity theft as part of an alleged $1+ million cryptocurrency heist affecting at least 75 victims in the United States. A news release published on Dec. 18 by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance alleged that Yousef Selassie, 19, conducted a complex “SIM-swapping” scheme targeting residents across 20 different states. SIM-swapping — also known as a port-out scam — involves the theft of a victim’s cell phone number in order to hijack their online financial and social media accounts by intercepting the automated messages or phone calls used for two-factor authentication security …

A former employee of United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Kraken initiated legal proceedings against the company in connection with a breach of contract and sanctions violations, among other issues. Per a court document filed on Nov. 26, Nathan Peter Runyon — a marine wartime veteran and ex-employee of Kraken, where he served as a financial analyst under the exchange’s chief financial officer Kaiser Ng — brought the case to court accusing the company and Ng of an array of legal violations and falsifications. A range of accusations Specifically, Runyon accused Kraken of unethical and illegal business tactics, defrauding employees over their …

The Shenzhen Bao'An District Court in China has ruled to freeze roughly $676,000 in assets of a subsidiary of Bitcoin (BTC) mining giant Bitmain. According to a court filing released on Dec. 13, the Shenzhen Bao'An District Court ordered to freeze 4,718,710.68 yuan ($676,000) of Bitmain’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Shenzhen Century Cloud Core. The ruling follows an application submitted by a manufacturer of electronic components, Dongguan Yongjiang Electronics, on Sept. 24. Dongguan Yongjiang asked the court to freeze the amount in order to ensure that it would be able to claim it in an ongoing trade contract dispute should the court …

PayPal is suing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for requiring the firm to make “misleading and confusing” disclosures about its fees. The digital payments giant filed a lawsuit against the CFPB on Dec. 11, arguing that the agency has ignored critical differences between digital wallets and prepaid products like prepaid debit cards (GPR). CFPB makes PayPal provide disclosures about fees that it doesn’t charge, the suit says According to a Dec. 11 court filing seen by Cointelegraph, the CFPB mandates that digital wallets and GPR cards should be regulated the same way, which allegedly resulted in a “fundamentally ill-suited” …

A United States court has granted regulators a preliminary injunction against an alleged Bitcoin (BTC) Ponzi scheme which reportedly defrauded investors of $11 million. In a filing with the United States District Court in Nevada dated Dec. 6, Judge Jennifer A. Dorsey ruled in favor of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and against Circle Society, along with its operator, David Saffron. CFTC wins injunction against CIrcle Society “...I find that this is a proper case for granting a preliminary injunction and other equitable relief to preserve the status quo, protect customers from further loss and damage, and enable the …

A former JPMorgan derivatives trader is suing one of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges for $300 million after it allegedly failed to deliver his equity. According to filing with the Superior Court of the State of California in San Francisco dated Dec. 4, Frank Amato and RGB Coin are now pursuing action against BitMEX, its CEO Arthur Hayes and owner HDR Global Trading. Investor: BitMEX prevented recognition of entitlement Amato says he was among the first seed investors in BitMEX in 2015, contributing $30,000 on the understanding he would later receive equity in the company. Amato alleges that this has …

Two global financial giants, BNY Mellon and Credit Suisse, were reportedly involved in Telegram’s $1.7 billion Gram (GRAM) token sale in 2018. Telegram allegedly informed its investors that it was using BNY Mellon and Credit Suisse to move and store fiat currency raised in the GRAM sale, industry publication Coindesk reports, citing court filings released on Dec. 10. A Telegram employee reveals the details in a series of messages attached to the filings Shyam Parekh, a Telegram employee who is expected to give a deposition before the New York Southern District Court today, Dec. 10, reportedly provided details on how …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed to reopen a case against Bitcoin (BTC) fraudster Renwick Haddow as he has not resolved the regulator’s claims for monetary relief against him. On Dec. 6, The agency submitted a letter to Judge Lorna G. Schofield of the New York Southern District Court requesting to reopen the case against Haddow. Last year, the SEC accused Haddow of defrauding Bitcoin investors out of over $37 million. The court found him guilty in June of 2019. Claims against Haddow In the letter, the SEC notes that the court gave a partial consent …

Ripple has filed a motion to dismiss a class-action lawsuit alleging that it held an unregistered securities sale of its XRP tokens. In court documents filed on Dec. 4, Ripple argues that the plaintiffs’ case is contradictory and “self-defeating.” Alongside a reiteration of previous arguments, the company now also claims that, even if XRP were a security, the statute of repose had passed before the lawsuit was brought to court. Ripple says that XRP is not a security, but even if it were... In what is reportedly Ripple’s last attempt to get the case thrown out before the scheduled hearing …

A Danish court has ruled that Scandinavian financial services giant Nordea can bar its employees from owning Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital currencies. As BNN Bloomberg reported on Dec. 3, the court justified the restriction by citing the purported risks associated with cryptocurrencies. However, the ruling did not apply to financial instruments associated with digital currencies Nordea had sold to customers, as well as to any cryptocurrency that employees might have invested in before the restriction. Denmark’s union for financial industry employees had filed suit against Nordea, claiming that the ban interfered with employees’ personal lives. Kent Petersen, the union’s …

The plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit accusing the Tether (USDT)-affiliated crypto exchange Bitfinex of Bitcoin (BTC) price manipulation have declined to amend their complaint. According to a court filing dated Dec. 2, the plaintiffs declined to make amendments to their complaint as a study conducted by John Griffin and Amin Shams “still concludes that USDT was being used to manipulate Bitcoin prices.” Moreover, they state that the findings connect the manipulation to a single entity. Last year, Griffin and Shams of the University of Texas published a paper, alleging that Tether partially caused Bitcoin’s historic high of $20,000 in 2017. …

A United States federal judge has preserved the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) move to strike Telegram’s “void for vagueness/lack of notice” defense. According to a letter dated Nov. 25, the SEC moved to strike Telegram’s proposed defense as being insufficient under federal law. On Nov. 26, Judge P. Kevin Castel ordered the motion to be preserved for 14 days until after the discovery period of the proceedings has ended. In early October, the SEC claimed that Telegram’s $1.7 billion Gram (GRAM) token sale was illegal under U.S. securities laws. On Nov. 12, Telegram filed a claim with the U.S. …