Sam Bankman-Fried’s defunct crypto exchange FTX owes Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville resort nearly $600,000 — more than 10 times what was previously thought — and meanwhile racked up a $400,000 DoorDash tab ahead of its bankruptcy, court papers revealed this week.
In November, FTX’s investment affiliate Alameda Research was reportedly sought after by Margaritaville resort in the Bahamas over a $55,319 bar tab.
Sam Bankman-Fried, a co-founder of FTX, received more than $2bn (£1.7bn) from entities linked to the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange into his personal accounts, according to court filings.
Bankman-Fried and five members of his inner circle transferred a total of $3.2bn into their personal accounts through “payments and loans”, according to US bankruptcy court filings in Delaware made by FTX’s new management.
FTX was once worth as much as $40bn but rapidly collapsed in November after a surge in customer withdrawals as rival exchange Binance reversed a plan to bail out its competitor. FTX admitted it did not have sufficient assets in reserve to meet the sudden increase in customer demand.
If true he may well be the next Madoff.
It was a promising investment opportunity pitched by a friend, promised in a social media advertisement or proposed by a stranger on a dating app, but it turned into a nightmare for many Canadians.
Joel from Calgary sent $16,000 to what he thought was a brokerage company based in England. Valerie from Scarborough invested $9,000 on the recommendation of a new love interest. Christopher from Stratford spent $10,000 on an investment that later he would say was “too good to be true.” Aleah from Woodbridge borrowed $75,000 from her mother’s line of credit and gave it to someone who said he would teach her how to trade a new, exciting type of currency.
I never got Bitcoin. It just never seemed real to my unsophisticated eyes.
The “Rug-Pull” trend, often “influencer” enabled, which cropped up a couple of years ago confirmed my suspicions but to me the whole Digital Currency house of cards came tumbling down with the introduction of NFT’s. If you bought one expect no sympathy.
I feel sorry for those who have been burned but I think Warren Buffet said if you can’t understand the business don’t invest in it.
In related news …
Yellen: No federal bailout for collapsed Silicon Valley Bank
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday that the federal government would not bail out Silicon Valley Bank, but is working to help depositors who are concerned about their money.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insures deposits up to $250,000, but many of the companies and wealthy people who used the bank — known for its relationships with technology startups and venture capital — had more than that amount in their account. There are fears that some workers across the country won’t receive their paychecks.
Silicon Valley Bank has gone bust owing $1.8 billion.
Without a Head of Risk Management for 9 months, the one appointed, Jay Ersapah seemed more interested in organising pride campaigns & 'Lesbian Visibility Day'. She identifies as a queer person of colour.
Get woke, go broke. pic.twitter.com/JeiR6wnPO4
— David Atherton (@DaveAtherton20) March 12, 2023
Famous last words? Remember “Too Big To Fail.”
When I was a sparring partner for professional boxers many, many years ago, I was taught to be wary of the jab. It is a tactic used to distract an opponent while setting him up for a devastating power punch that takes him down for the count.
Biden is throwing jabs.
The power punch is a little noticed Executive Order with the innocuous number 14067 and its title, “Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets.”
An author should be pleased to see his thesis bolstered by events. Yet since writing The Coming of Neo-Feudalism in 2020, I have not found any joy in the continued growth of the West’s class divides, as wealth becomes increasingly concentrated in ever fewer hands. The good news is that the working and middle classes are not yet out for the count, and are showing welcome signs of pushback against both state and corporate power.
All these projects to digitize the world are also programs to digitize you, to turn you into a virtual rather than real human being.
The most egregious act that brought the world’s attention to the Canadian truckers’ Freedom Convoy was when Justin Trudeau ordered banks to freeze the accounts not only of peaceful protesters but also of their financial supporters and even some people related only by association, such as ex-spouses. This move inspired so much outrage that, in a somewhat unprecedented fashion, this feckless prime minister was later excoriated to his face by some members of the European Parliament. In a blistering speech that went viral, MEP Mislav Kolakušić of Croatia declaimed, “You block the bank accounts of single parents so that they can’t even pay their children’s education and medicine, that they can’t pay utilities, mortgages for their homes,” and so forth.
Croatian Member of European Parliament and former judge Mislav Kolakusic calls out Justin Trudeau during his visit to the European Parliament in Brussels yesterday:
“To you these may be liberal methods. For many citizens of the world, it is dictatorship of the worst kind.” pic.twitter.com/3HRXUrnErC
— James Melville (@JamesMelville) March 24, 2022
Nishad Singh, the former director of engineering at now bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has agreed to plead guilty to US criminal charges, his lawyer said in court on Tuesday, as US prosecutors ramp up their investigation into members of Sam Bankman-Fried’s inner circle.
Bankman-Fried, FTX’s founder, was charged in December with eight counts of fraud and conspiracy. Prosecutors say he stole billions in FTX customer deposits to plug losses at his hedge fund Alameda Research, and lied to investors and lenders about his companies’ financial condition.
Former billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of befallen crypto exchange FTX, has been charged with four new criminal counts including allegations of illegal political donations and bank fraud, an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court revealed on Thursday—tacking on to the eight charges already facing the former wunderkind as he gears up for trial later this year.
These are some serious charges.
Gary Wang and Sam Bankman-Fried are offering dueling accounts of the FTX fiasco and of who’s ultimately to blame.
They’d come a long way together, from teenage mathletes to MIT frat brothers to crypto billionaires.
Now the feds were closing in on both — and one was going to turn on the other.
“We can make this work,” Sam Bankman-Fried said over Signal, an encrypted messaging app.
Gary Wang didn’t reply.
This says Bankman-Fried is toast. How long he actually remains in jail is something we just have to wait on.
A Manhattan federal judge on Thursday suggested he’d lock disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried up pending trial if the accused fraudster continues to improperly use electronic devices while out on bail.
Judge Lewis Kaplan asked federal prosecutors and Bankman-Fried’s attorneys why he should allow the alleged crypto crook to return to his parents’ California house, where he’d be surrounded by unmonitored electronic devices.
He’s displayed enough arrogance to be stupid.
A federal judge slapped a new bail restriction on Sam Bankman-Fried Tuesday, after finding out the disgraced FTX founder has been using a virtual private network (VPN) to watch football in recent weeks.
Prosecutors filed a letter to U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan Monday night, alerting him that they discovered Bankman-Fried used a VPN to access the internet on Jan. 29 and Feb. 12, raising concerns that his use of a private network prevents them from monitoring his behavior online.
Central banks are creating their own surveillance state
Should we really be surprised that the Treasury and Bank of England are exploring whether to launch a state-issued digital pound? Sunak, after all, was the chancellor who first floated the idea of backing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) — already dubbed “Britcoin”. Nor was he alone: 11 countries, including China, Nigeria, The Bahamas and Jamaica, have already launched their own digital currencies, while more than 100 others, representing over 95% of global GDP, are deciding whether to follow suit. In the United States, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has launched a pilot programme; the European Central Bank hopes to make a decision about the creation of a digital euro this autumn.
A FILING IN FTX’s bankruptcy proceedings is shedding light on the true extent of the crypto-trading powerhouse’s influence-peddling operation. Last week, FTX filed its creditor matrix, a document that lists former vendors and investors to the company.
The list includes nearly a dozen public relations experts — specialists who generate positive spin in the media on behalf of clients — as well as political consultants, think tanks, and trade groups.
Sometimes, the money went directly to political operations; Majority Forward, a dark-money group designed to elect Senate Democrats, received cash. In some cases, the hired guns, such as PR firms, were paid directly for their services. In others, the groups that received donations maintain that they are independent, but had interests aligned with FTX.
h/t DM
Hollywood celebrities looking to make a quick buck endorsing cryptocurrency or NFTs are now being told to think twice as angry consumers who experienced losses are taking the stars to court.
Celebrities including Madonna, Justin Bieber, Larry David, and NBC’s Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon joined the crypto bandwagon only to find themselves defendants in class action lawsuits. Even Kim Kardashian was sued over EthereumMax, though she later settled the matter out of court.
There were a lot of rug pulls involving “minor” influencers etc it will be interesting to see how these celebrity trials work out.
A Manhattan federal judge on Wednesday ordered accused crypto schemer Sam Bankman-Fried not to contact any current or ex-employees of FTX, his former digital currency company, while he is out on bail in the sprawling fraud case.
Judge Lewis Kaplan issued the order at the request of federal prosecutors and will hear arguments from Bankman-Fried’s attorneys about the restrictions during a hearing on Feb. 7.
In a letter to Kaplan, prosecutors revealed that Bankman-Fried sent a message to FTX’s current general counsel on the encrypted messaging app Signal weeks after he was indicted in Manhattan federal court.
This was a blatant attempt to influence a witness, Sammy must still think he is untouchable.
