White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, declined to answer questions from a reporter on whether United States president Joe Biden will return the $5.2 million in campaign donations previously given by FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. “Will the president return that donation?” Associated Press reporter Zeke Miller asked in a Dec. 13 press briefing, “does he call on all politicians who got campaign donations that may have come from customer money to return those funds?” “I'm covered here by the Hatch Act,” Jean-Pierre responded, adding she was “limited on what I can say.” ”Anything that's connected to political contributions, from here …

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has again labeled Ether (ETH) as a commodity in a Dec. 13 court filing — in contrast to statements from chief Rostin Behnam on Nov. 30 suggesting that Bitcoin was the sole cryptocurrency that should be viewed as a commodity. According to the CFTC, as per their filing today, ETH is a commodity. This really should put any security designation to rest. pic.twitter.com/PkHWredNK4 — Hal Press (@NorthRockLP) December 13, 2022 In its lawsuit against Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX, and sister company Alameda Research, the regulator on multiple occasions referred to Ether, Bitcoin (BTC) and Tether …

Damian Williams, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said the investigation leading to charges against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried had been “very, very fast” but prosecutors were “not done” with arrests. In a press conference livestream on Dec. 13, Williams said the timing of the arrest of Bankman-Fried had been based on progress from law enforcement officials, who authorized charges on Dec. 7 and indicted the former FTX CEO on Dec. 9, leading to a warrant being executed in the Bahamas on Dec. 12. An eight-count indictment released on Dec. 13 revealed U.S. authorities alleged …

The indictment against Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) was unsealed Dec. 13. The indictment, signed by U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams, is 14 pages long and containe eight counts. The charges listed against SBF in the indictment are: Conspiracy to commit wire fraud on customers, wire fraud on customers, conspiracy to commit wire fraud on lenders, wire fraud on lenders, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering anconspiracy to defraud the United States and violate the campaign finance laws. USA Damian Williams: Earlier this evening, Bahamian authorities arrested …

Though Sam Bankman-Fried could not attend the congressional hearing virtually due to his recent arrest in the Bahamas, United States lawmakers held no punches criticizing the former FTX CEO and business practices at the firm. As the sole witness before a hearing of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee on Dec. 13, FTX CEO John Ray shed light on many of the crypto exchange’s activities prior to his takeover as company head on Nov. 11 and what subsequent investigations had revealed. According to Ray, Alameda Research had been dependent on funds from FTX Trading — the international arm of the …

The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, has filed a lawsuit against Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX and Alameda Research, claiming violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and demanding a jury trial. According to court records filed Dec. 13 in the Southern District of New York, the CFTC filed a complaint for injunctive and other equitable relief as well as civil monetary penalties against Bankman-Fried, FTX Trading, and Alameda Research. The complaint alleged that SBF personally directed FTC executives to set up features allowing Alameda to use the crypto exchange as a line of credit for its lenders. “Contrary to …

The Bahamas government reportedly worked with former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to issue a new cryptocurrency controlled by local officials. Following the FTX collapse in November, Bahamas government officials reportedly asked Bankman-Fried to mint new digital assets worth “hundreds of millions of dollars,” lawyers for FTX said in a court filing, Bloomberg reported on Dec. 12. The authorities also reportedly asked the former FTX CEO to transfer the new tokens to the control of island officials. The report also suggests that Bahamas officials tried to help Bankman-Fried regain access to key computer systems of the now-defunct FTX trading platform. According …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed charges against Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX. The SEC has charged Bankman-Fried with violating the anti-fraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The SEC’s complaint seeks injunctions against future securities law violation that prohibits Bankman-Fried from participating in the issuance, purchase, offer, or sale of any securities except for his own personal account. Related: SBF planned to blame everyone but himself, shows leaked Congress testimony SEC charged Bankman-Fried for orchestrating a scheme to defraud equity investors in …

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF, was arrested on Dec 12, a day before he was set to testify before Congress remotely. A copy of his testimony, obtained by Forbes, highlights that the disgraced CEO planned to blame the spectral downfall of his $32 billion empire on everyone but himself. SBF continued the same rhetoric about FTX.US, the sister company of the global cryptocurrency exchange, in his testimony. He claimed that the United States-based entity was still “fully solvent” despite it being a part of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filed on Nov. 11. Bankman Fried wrote: “I …

Merely hours before news of his arrest by Bahamian police, Sam Bankman-Fried took to Twitter denying his involvement or knowledge of a secret group chat named “Wirefraud” — which allegedly involved former FTX and Alameda ranking executives. In a Dec. 12 response to a report from the Australian Financial Review (AFR), Bankman-Fried used Twitter to deny involvement in or knowledge of a “Wirefraud” group chat on messaging app Signal, which reportedly included members of Bankman-Fried’s inner circle, including FTX co-founder Zixiao “Gary” Wang, FTX engineer Nishad Singh and former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison. The AFR report said the chat was …

The worst isn’t yet over for the disgraced founder of crypto exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried. On Dec. 12, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it is preparing to file charges against Sam Bankman-Fried, which will be separate from the ones leading to his most recent arrest in The Bahamas. In a statement on Twitter, the SEC tweeted a quote from its division of enforcement director Gurbir Grewal on Dec. 12 stating that the agency has “authorized separate charges relating to his violations of securities laws.” Gurbir Grewal: We commend our law enforcement partners for securing the arrest …

Crypto Twitter has blown up over the shocking news of Sam Bankman-Fried’s arrest in The Bahamas — many of whom weren’t expecting it to happen so soon. On Dec. 12, the disgraced FTX founder was arrested by the Royal Bahamas Police after receiving notification from the United States government that criminal charges has been filed against him. Within hours, politicians, crypto executives and influencers all booted up their Twitter apps to comment on the arrest of the FTX’s former CEO. New York Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who’s held a fairly neutral view on the crypto industry to date, told her …