Thoughts tagged "crypto"

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Prosecutors have requested Alex Mashinsky, CEO of the collapsed Celsius cryptocurrency company, be sentenced to at least twenty years in prison for his "sustained, calculated campaign of deceit carried out over years, targeting ordinary people."

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Prosecutors say that such a severe sentence is necessary not only for deterrence, but because despite his guilty plea, Mashinsky has not fully accepted responsibility for his actions.

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Sentencing guidelines recommend a 30 year sentence, which is only because of the statutory cap resulting from his guilty plea agreement; otherwise the recommendation would be life. Mashinsky has argued he should be sentenced to no more than a year in prison. Sentencing will happen on May 8.

Someone just spent $8 million on $TRUMP memecoins after the president announced that the top holders would be invited to join him at a private dinner at his DC golf club.

Solscan screenshot showing four purchases of a total of 655K TRUMP tokens for approximately $8 million

The purchases were funded by a Binance account, suggesting the wallet owner is not based in the US.

FBI: Americans aged 60 and older reported losing almost $3 billion to crypto fraud last year. In total, Americans reported being scammed out of around $9.3 billion via crypto, out of a total $16.6 billion in total reported losses that year.

2024 IC3 CRYPTOCURRENCY FRAUD COMPLAINTS REFERENCING CRYPTOCURRENCY AGE RANGE21 COUNT LOSS Under 20 1,819 $7,778,157 20 - 29 13,591 $370,443,345 30 - 39 22,218 $1,006,382,458 40 - 49 22,555 $1,462,040,974 50 - 59 19,317 $1,184,912,854 Over 60 33,369 $2,839,333,197 Chart outlines cryptocurrency complaints in 2024: 149,686 complaints; $9.3 billion in losses; 66% increase in loss; largest age group to report is 60+.

The 60+ category reported $4.885 billion in total Internet crime-related losses to the FBI, and $2.839 billion of them involved crypto (58%).

Yuga Labs is looking to obtain a court order to seize possession of four crypto wallets from Jeremy Cahen, co-defendant in the Yuga v. Ryder Ripps case where Yuga won a nearly $9 million judgment.

Yuga has previously tried to collect the judgment via levies on Cahen’s various banks, as well as Robinhood, Gemini, Crypto.com, Coinbase, and Binance.

They claim that these four wallets contain almost $400,000 in crypto assets Cahen moved out of his Gemini account while Yuga was attempting to collect.

“This transfer occurred before Gemini froze his accounts, showing a deliberate and calculated move to shield his assets from the Final Judgment. Cahen’s actions here are not those of an individual passively awaiting the collection process but rather an intentional effort to evade payment at all costs.”

 They also claim that “Cahen has made a mockery of this Court’s Final Judgement by refusing to pay any portion of the judgment or comply with any post-judgment discovery.” (Cahen has argued that he need not comply while an appeal is pending.)

Yuga argues, citing his various Twitter accounts, that Cahen “regularly flouts [sic] his supposed wealth by sitting courtside at Los Angeles Clippers games”.

Screenshot of a tweet from a court document. Tweet is by PAULY @Magma0x: “My gift to myself. 4 courtside season tickets. For the rest of my life. @IntuitDome @LAClippers @NBA @usabasketball 👏”

It’s not clear when he made this tweet, though. In February he was listed among the 10 Most Wanted in Puerto Rico on assault charges, and so likely wasn’t attending many Clippers games. (He has since been removed from this list, though it’s unclear if the charges were resolved.)

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Zero Edge crypto casino founder Richard Kim has been charged with wire fraud and securities fraud after soliciting investments for his crypto casino and then gambling them away. He was arrested and released on bond.

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK, ss.: THOMAS MCGUIRE, being duly sworn, deposes and says that he is a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and charges as follows: COUNT ONE (Wire Fraud) 1. From at least in or about March 2024 through at least in or about July 2024, in the Southern District of New York and elsewhere, RICHARD KIM, the defendant, knowingly having devised and intending to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud, and for obtaining money and property by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises, transmitted and caused to be transmitted by means of wire, radio, and television communication in interstate and foreign commerce, writings, signs, signals, pictures, and sounds, for the purpose of executing such scheme and artifice, to wit, KIM engaged in a scheme to misappropriate funds invested in the Zero Edge company, and sent and received, and caused others to send and receive, electronic communications or financial wires to and from the Southern District of New York and elsewhere, in furtherance of that scheme. (Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343 & 2.) COUNT TWO (Securities Fraud) 2. From at least in or about March 2024 through at least in or about July 2024, in the Southern District of New York and elsewhere, RICHARD KIM, the defendant, willfully and knowingly, directly and indirectly, by use of the means and instrumentalities of interstate commerce, and of the mails and of the facilities of national securities exchanges, used and employed, in connection with the purchase and sale of securities, manipulative and deceptive devices and contrivances, in violation of Title 17, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 240.10b-5, by: (a) employing devices, schemes and artifices to defraud; (b) making untrue statements of material facts and omitting to state material facts necessary in order to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading; and (c) engaging in acts, practices and courses of business which operated and would operate as a fraud and deceit upon persons, to wit, KIM engaged in a scheme to defraud investors in the Zero Edge company by

US v. Kim

Crypto lobby: “Sure, Trump nixed the Crypto Enforcement Team, directed Major Fraud prosecutors to stop prosecuting crypto cases, and is trying to exempt crypto platforms from the BSA, but they wrote right here that they care about stopping crypto crime!”

Quote from man sued: "What are you gonna do, sue me?"

Kevin O'Leary has sued crypto personality Ben Armstrong (aka "BitBoy Crypto") for repeatedly claiming O'Leary murdered two people.

27. On March 19, 2025, Armstrong unleashed another tweet accusing O’Leary of committing “actual crimes”: “Doesn’t everybody think it’s weird that I’ve been publicly calling … @kevinolearytv [a] murderer[] and yet not a single word or legal action? It’s almost like they ‘can’t’ because a lawsuit would open up their actual crimes and they know it.”

(O'Leary and his wife were indeed involved in a boating collision that killed two people in 2019; O'Leary states in the lawsuit that it was his wife driving the boat, and she was acquitted of any charges.)

BitBoy also suggested that O'Leary was trying to have him killed, and claimed he'd swatted him. Shortly after, he posted O'Leary's cell phone number and encouraged his followers to "call a real life murderer"

Armstong launched his defamatory campaign on March 17, 2025. On that day, he posted the following: “You guys think I’m kidding about all this stuff and all these claims. There is a reason my life is actually in danger. Kevin O’Leary has already verifiably murdered one couple in Toronto.” Over 30,000 people viewed this tweet. Tweet screenshot: The BitBoy @BenArmstrongsX You guys think I'm kidding about all this stuff and all these claims. There is a reason my life is actually in danger. Kevin O'Leary has already verifiably murdered one couple in Toronto. You don't think Mr One-To-2-Inch would try to kill the old BitBoy? He SWATTED me once
Tweet screenshot: The BitBoy @BenArmstrongsX Hey @kevinolearytv, what the fuck are you going to do with me? You can't sue me. You can't stop me. You can't shut me up. I'm a rabid dog with my teeth sunk deep into your leg. Your usual tricks don't work. Going to be hard to put the rabid dog down with everyone watching.

Amusingly, BitBoy once tried to file a defamation lawsuit of his own against a YouTuber who called him a "shady dirtbag". He dropped the suit almost immediately after the YouTuber raised over $200,000 for his defense, and Armstrong admitted he didn't know lawsuits were public.

It's not clear that BitBoy even knows he's been sued yet; he was arrested two days ago after sending threatening emails to the judge in a different defamation case he's facing from his former business partners after he publicly accused them of various crimes.