FTX: Kids Round-tripping in Crypto-land

Tweet Another crypto company bit the dust early this week, and with it, up to US$10 billion in customer money evaporated. BlockFi was a digital currency exchange, deposit-taking institution, and lender. BlockFi also issued and sold securities. It was not government-registered to provide any of those financial services in Canada. In early 2022, it settled […]

SEC files complaint against BitConnect promoters in the US

Tweet The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC“) filed a civil complaint against 5 American promoters of the Blockchain protocol known as BitConnect this week. Investors from around the world lost over US$2 billion with BitConnect. The SEC alleges that the defendants conducted an unregistered offering and sale of securities in connection with its native coin […]

DeFi platform allegedly posts a note on its website confessing it scammed Bitcoin investors and there isn’t sh*t they can do about it

Tweet According to the Twitter account of a Bitcoin investor, the DeFi platform called DeFi100, that is listed on Binance, posted a notice on its website earlier today that it scammed its investors and that there was nothing the investors could do about it. “Ha ha. All you moon boys have been scammed. Fuck you […]

China says 64% of its cybercrime cases involve financial fraud

Tweet China is reporting that in 2020, 64% of cybercrime involved financial fraud, including online illegal gambling, online illegal loans and illegal securities sold online on various platforms, such as WeChat and QQ. Many of the fraud cases involved Bitcoin and other digital currencies. In December 2020, the public security agency of China intercepted a […]

Russian national who provided money laundering as a service, pleads guilty in US

Tweet A Russian national, Maksim Boiko, who was accused of operating a money laundering as a service (“MLaaS“) business, pleaded guilty in Pittsburg today, to one count of conspiracy to launder money. In this case, the MLaaS involved opening personal and company bank accounts to receive and then move money for criminals and opening Bitcoin […]

FinCEN assesses US$60 million penalty against owner of Bitcoin mixer / tumbler service

Tweet US$60 million penalty On October 19, 2020, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN“) assessed a US$60 million penalty (here) against Larry Dean Harmon, the owner of two Bitcoin mixing and anonymizing services called Helix and Coin Ninja LLC. FinCEN found that the two entities were operating as unregistered money services businesses (“MSB“) which exchanged […]

“There is no point to a lawsuit if it merely applies the law to lies” – SEC wins extreme remedy against digital currency exchange founder whose credibility is shot

Tweet The founder of a digital currency exchange lied so much to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC“) during its investigation and to a California Court, and made himself so not credible, that a Court has recommended one of the harshest remedies available – to deprive the defendant of the constitutional right to be heard […]

Canadian who hid out in Canada for several years to avoid US prosecution, pleads guilty to securities fraud in New York

Tweet A Canadian, possibly Iranian Canadian, pled guilty in New York today to conspiracy and securities fraud in connection with a scheme where fake securities of tech companies, such as Twitter and Uber, were sold to investors who suffered losses of US$18 million. Fred Elm, whose real name is Frederic Elmaleh from Toronto, led an […]