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Caroline Ellison, the former co-Chief Executive (CEO) of Alameda Research, has been sentenced to two years in prison for her role in the approximately $8 billion stolen from FTX customers. The 29-year-old pleaded guilty to seven counts of fraud and conspiracy in the lead-up to former FTX chief Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial. Despite facing a maximum 110 years, her lawyers have argued that Ellison’s key testimony for the prosecution should have resulted in no prison time at all. Ellison’s prison sentence is far less than her ex-flame Bankman-Fried, who received 25 years behind bars. US District Judge Lewis Kaplan explained that Ellison has been particularly cooperative, stating, “I’ve seen a lot of cooperators in 30 years. I’ve never seen one quite like Ms. Ellison ,” though he made sure to acknowledge her role in the fraud. Which FTX and Alameda executives are going to prison and when? Read more: Executive texts claim Deltec moved customer funds from FTX to Alamed...

FTX and Alameda Research’s antics devastated the cryptocurrency ecosystem nearly two years ago when it was revealed by CoinDesk reporting that Alameda execs had used FTX as a piggy bank for their trading activities.  Over the last two years, several of those executives have been charged with various crimes, and some have already been sentenced to prison, among them former FTX CEO and Alameda founder, Sam Bankman-Fried.  Is Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto trading firm Alameda Research broke? Sam Bankman-Fried Bankman-Fried was found guilty by a jury of his peers of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.  He had previously been charged with other counts that have been dismissed, including conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business, conspiracy to defraud the Federal Election Commission (FEC), conspiracy to violate the anti-bribe...

Law professor David Mills, who defended FTX ’s Sam Bankman-Fried in his high-profile Crypto fraud trial earlier this year, has claimed that his friendship with the disgraced former CEO’s parents may not survive the case. He has also suggested that Bankman-Fried, who was found guilty of seven fraud and conspiracy charges in November, may be “at the very top of the list as the worst person I’ve ever seen do a cross-examination.” As reported by Bloomberg, Mills, out of loyalty to the FTX chief’s parents, agreed to fight Bankman-Fried’s corner in December 2022. He also told them that he would “see this through for you and do my best.” However, the legal veteran claimed that he believed the case to be virtually unwinnable from the get-go . He pointed specifically to pre-trial rulings by US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, and the fact that Bankman-Fried would be up against three strong prosecution witnesses, namely Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, FTX co-founder Gary Wang, and ...

For fiscal year 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed 784 enforcement actions and received $4.9 billion in penalties. Of this amount, the SEC distributed $930 million among the affected investors. During the reporting period, the SEC received a record 18,000 reports of violations, which is almost 50% more than last year. In FY 2023, the SEC filed 784 enforcement actions, obtained orders for nearly $5 billion in financial remedies, and distributed nearly $1 billion to harmed investors. Read more about our Enforcement results for FY 2023: https://t.co/zDgxp1N3qy — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (@SECGov) November 14, 2023 In total, more than 40,000 complaints and requests were sent to the regulator. The agency paid over $600 million to informants who reported illegal activities. Among the largest fines is a $400 million settlement from Wells Fargo, HSBC and Scotia Capital for violations of federal record-keeping and customer protection requi...

The majority of digital asset trading around the world is handled by just eight cryptocurrency exchanges, according to an analysis by Kaiko. The study revealed that only eight crypto exchanges handle 90% of the global crypto trading volume and hold as much as 92% of the market depth. Introducing: The #Crypto Liquidity Concentration Report 90% of liquidity is concentrated on just 8 exchanges liquidity has become more concentrated over time Binance accounts for 30% of global depth and 64% of volume Check it out:https://t.co/kInbfgGGkW — Kaiko (@KaikoData) September 8, 2023 Since the beginning of 2023, Binance has accounted for over 30% of the cryptocurrency market depth worldwide. It is also responsible for more than 64% of crypto trading volumes globally. The Changpeng Zhao-led exchange has maintained its status as the most significant player in the digital asset sector. However, per the report, its market depth has fallen nearly 12% since 2021. Other exchanges that hold...

The New York South District court revoked former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s bail on Aug. 11 after an appeal from the prosecution in July citing multiple instances of violation of bail conditions. The United States Attorney’s Office has filed an affirmation of the denial of bail to former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, claiming that he could attempt witness tampering and stating that no release conditions would assure the safety of the witnesses. Prosecutors responded to several claims made in his appeal against the bail revocation , calling it “meritless.” In their response, the prosecutors argued that SBF was found to have twice committed or attempted witness tampering in violation of the court orders. Thus, in light of his continued evasions of his pre-trial release conditions, Bankman-Fried was unlikely to abide by the conditions of release. The first time SBF attempted to contact witnesses came to light in January earlier this year, when the former FTX CEO initiated contact w...

According to analysis from blockchain firm Arkham Intelligence, over 50% of the funds transferred after Nov. 6 were in USD-pegged stablecoins. Alameda Research withdrew over $200 million from FTX.US before it filed for bankruptcy, according to analysis from blockchain firm Arkham Intelligence disclosed on Nov. 25.  In a Twitter thread, Arkham revealed that Alameda Research, FTX’s sister company, pulled $204 million from eight different addresses of FTX US in a variety of crypto assets, the majority of them stablecoins, in the final days before the collapse. Arkham analysed flows from FTX US in the final few days before the collapse, finding that Alameda withdrew the most funds, at $204M. Below is a diagram of withdrawals to Arkham-identified entities from FTX US. n.b. this thread regards FTX US assets only, not FTX International. pic.twitter.com/QFPVlVIWhO — Arkham | Crypto Intelligence (@ArkhamIntel) November 25, 2022 Among the withdrawn funds, $116 million, or 57.1%, were in st...

Lawyers representing SBF have agreed to a gag order preventing him from making comments that could sway his criminal trial but says it should apply to other witnesses too. Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has agreed to a “gag order” which will prevent him from making comments to third parties that may interfere with his trial — but argues it should apply to all potential witnesses as well, including current FTX CEO John Ray. The gag order against Sam Bankman-Fried was initially requested on July 20, when the U.S. government accused the FTX founder of attempting to interfere with a fair trial by publicly discrediting former business partner and witness Caroline Ellison in an interview with the  New York Times. In a July 22 letter to United States District Court Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of New York, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers Cohen & Gresser LLP denied the accusations but agreed to accept a gag order as requested. A gag order is a legal order often issued by a court to restrict informa...

SBF’s lawyers claimed that the US is making federal crimes out of regulatory issues. advertisement SBF’s motion to dismiss criminal charges are meritless Prosecutors wrote in a nearly 100-page filing that these motions put forward by SBF’s lawyers are meritless. “The charges track the relevant statutes and the defendant’s alleged misconduct falls within the heartland of what these statutes prohibit,” the filing noted. Disgraced FTX founder SBF has pleaded not guilty to charges that he cheated investors and looted customer deposits on his crypto exchange to make lavish real estate purchases, donate money to politicians and make risky trades at Alameda Research, his crypto currency hedge fund trading firm. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams has called it one of the biggest frauds in U.S. history. Prosecutors ask court to proceed with all charges Earlier, SBF’s lawyers argued that eight counts in the original indict...