Court filings continue to shed light on the dubious relationship between FTX and Alameda Research, in which the hedge fund was afforded an ‘unfair’ trading advantage as well as unprecedented access to user holdings on the cryptocurrency exchange. The United States Commodities Futures Trading Commission filed a complaint in the Southern District Court in New York on Dec. 1, alleging a host of irregular business dealings between Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange FTX and his trading company Alameda Research. The complaint provides a raft of allegations detailing how the two companies and select insiders including Bankman-Fried violated the Commodity Exchange Act …

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 …

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 …

A United States federal judge has ordered the Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC) to serve its lawsuit to the two original founders of the Ooki decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). On Dec. 12, District Judge William Orrick ordered the U.S. regulator to serve Tom Bean and Kyle Kistner, the founders of the decentralized trading platform bZeroX which was the predecessor to Ooki DAO. Bean and Kistner had already settled charges with the CFTC in September relating to illegal commodities offerings on bZeroX, while separate charges were laid against Ooki DAO token holders, which was served using a help chat box as …

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 …

To help out the recently duped investors of FTX Tokens (FTT), shareholder rights litigation firm — Schall Law Firm — has taken up the task of investigating the investors’ claims against FTX for violations of the securities laws. It is estimated that over one million people have lost their life savings owing to the financial fraud committed by FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. To help the investors legally recoup losses, the law firm plans to investigate FTX for issuing misleading statements or failing to disclose crucial information. In an official statement, Schall Law Firm highlighted how various media publications uncovered the …

The number of lawsuits against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has been racking up since the fall of his crypto empire, with the former “white knight” of crypto finding himself a defendant in seven class action lawsuits filed since FTX’s bankruptcy. These lawsuits are separate from the numerous probes and investigations examining FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried, such as a reported market manipulation probe by federal prosecutors and the Federal Election Commission’s likely investigation into Bankman-Frieds dark money donations to the Republican Party. Below is a summary of the class-action lawsuits brought against Sam Bankman-Fried since Nov. 11. Dec. 7: Podalsky …

A court in South Korea has supported the decision of local exchanges to delist Wemade’s Wemix (WEMIX) tokens, dismissing Wemade’s request to cancel the delisting. The Seoul Central District Court ruled on Dec. 7 to justify the decision of the Digital Asset eXchange Alliance (DAXA) to delist WEMIX from major South Korean exchanges, The Korea Herald reported on Thursday. The DAXA, a crypto exchange group representing South Korea’s largest firms like Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Gopax, said that Wemade has failed to properly disclose the number of tokens outstanding. The court has reportedly supported the position of the DAXA, …

A federal judge in California has dismissed a class action lawsuit against reality TV star Kim Kardashian, boxing champ Floyd Mayweather and the founders of EthereumMax, explaining that the submissions failed to meet the “heightened pleading standards” for fraud claims. The judge has, however, left room for the plaintiffs to refile the proposed class action lawsuit if certain provisions are amended. In the original Jan. 7 court filing submitted by Scott + Scott Attorneys At Law, the plaintiffs argued that Kardashian, Mayweather, and also former NBA superstar Paul Pierce didn’t disclose they were being paid to promote EthereumMax (EMAX). The …

A federal judge overseeing Three Arrows Capital’s (3AC’s) bankruptcy proceedings has signed an order approving subpoenas to be delivered to 3AC’s former leadership, including co-founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies. The subpoenas require the founders to give up any “recorded information, including books, documents, records, and papers” in their custody that relates to the firm’s property or financial affairs. The infamous hedge fund, worth $10 billion at its peak, filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy on Jul. 1 with its troubles tied up in too much leverage and the collapse of Terra Luna (LUNA), known now as Terra Classic (LUNC), and …

Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius was granted an extension on its exclusivity period until Feb. 15, 2023. The court approval would give the troubled crypto lender another couple of months to file for a Chapter 11 restructuring plan. The approval to extend the exclusivity period came after two court hearings on Dec. 6. Celsius, in an official tweet, said that they requested approval to permit the sale of stablecoin, aimed at providing liquidity for continued operations The Judge has indicated that he will share his decision soon, likely next week. Celsius hopes to use the extension period to develop a plan …

A Chinese court in the city of Hangzhou has said nonfungible token (NFT) collections are online virtual property that should be protected under Chinese law. A Nov. 29 article posted by the Hangzhou Internet Court — a specialist internet court — shared by crypto blogger Wu Blockchain on Dec. 5 reveals the favorable language for NFTs after the country began to crack down on cryptocurrencies in 2021, leaving NFTs in a legal grey area. Translated, the article says NFTs “have the object characteristics of property rights such as value, scarcity, controllability, and tradability” and “belong to network virtual property” that …