On Jan.10 the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) barred PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), one of the “Big Four” accounting firms, from auditing India listed firms for two years for failing to spot $1.7 bln accounting fraud at IT services company Satyam Computer Services. The Satyam accounting fraud scandal followed by its downfall broke on Jan. 7, 2009 when Satyam’s then chairman, Byrraju Ramalinga Raju admitted to fictitiously overstating the company’s cash balance by $1.7 bln or by 94 percent with the help of its auditor PwC. Due to this accounting scandal, Satyam’s shareholders lost as much as $2.2 bln as …

The demand for Bitcoin and the rush to invest in the digital coin are growing daily. Despite the criticism and ‘fraud’ accusations, great names like Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are thinking about introducing a cryptocurrencies trading desk and what kind of legal bottlenecks are involved. Image: the street It was reported earlier that the company is considering the possibility for its investors to trade in Bitcoin. The bank is yet to commence cryptocurrency trading and is looking into the legal implications. A bank as experienced as Goldman Sachs wouldn’t want to jump into a business that may face regulations in …

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed its first-ever charges against a Bitcoin investment corporation. The company, Gelfman Blueprint, Inc. (GBI), owned by Nicholas Gelfman of Brooklyn, New York, has been accused of fraudulent statements regarding Bitcoin investments. The company apparently had been running a Ponzi-scheme from 2014 through 2016, telling investors that it had created a computer algorithm called ‘Jigsaw’ which allowed for substantial returns through a commodity fund. In reality, the entire scheme was a fraud. Substantial losses The scam apparently bilked more than 80 individuals of sums nearing $600,000. The defendants consistently had reported substantial gains, …