Meta is trying out new tools on its Instagram platform to combat the sexual extortion of teens, including a feature that will automatically blur photos containing nudity in direct messages.
The social media company announced in a blog post Thursday that new features, including the auto-blur technology, are part of a campaign to fight sexual scams and make it tougher for criminals to contact teens.
“This feature is designed not only to protect people from seeing unwanted nudity in their DMs, but also to protect them from scammers who may send nude images to trick people into sending their own images in return,” the company said.
Meta also owns Facebook and WhatsApp but the nudity-blur feature won’t be added to those platforms.
Sexual extortion, or sextortion, happens when one person coerces another person into sending explicit photos of themselves, and then threatens to make those images public unless the victim pays money or engages in sexual favors. One recent case involves two Nigerian brothers who pleaded guilty Wednesday to sexually extorting teen boys across the country, including one 17-year-old in Michigan who took his own life.
In another case, a 28-year-old former Virginia sheriff’s posed as a teen online in order to obtain nude pics from a 15-year-old girl in California whom he sexually extorted and kidnapped at gunpoint, after driving across country, killing her mother and grandparents and setting their home on fire.
The nudity protection feature will be turned on by default globally for teens under 18. Adult users will get a notification encouraging them to activate it.
A series of warnings will appear on Instagram accounts, urging users to be careful about sending explicit photos and chatting with someone you don’t know.
Meta Platforms
In addition to the automatic blurring of images, a warning will appear giving users the option of whether or not they want to view the image. They’ll also have the option to block the sender and report the chat.
For users sending direct messages with nudity, a message will appear on screen reminding them to be cautious when sending “sensitive photos.” They’ll also be informed that they can unsend the photos if they change their mind, but that there’s a chance others may have already seen them.
To stop scammers and sexual predators from connecting with young people, the company says it is also expanding current restrictions, including not showing the “message” button on a teen’s profile to potential sextortion accounts, even if the two accounts are connected.
Children’s advocates applauded Meta’s move on Thursday, saying the features introduced appear encouraging.
“We are hopeful these new measures will increase reporting by minors and curb the circulation of online child exploitation,” John Shehan, the senior vice president at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, said in Meta’s blog post.
The defense attempted to draw a distinction between the failure of Terraform’s crypto assets, whose risk profile it implied was well understood by investors, and the acts of fraud alleged by the SEC. “Failure doesn’t equal fraud,” David Patton, attorney to Kwon, reportedly told the courtroom in his opening statement.
The defense also sought to undermine the credibility of the SEC whistleblowers, whom it reportedly suggested were in it only for the financial reward. The defense dismissed the account of the former Jump employee as hearsay and cast the Chai whistleblower as a disgruntled former staffer.
The defense also contended that Chai had utilized the Terraform blockchain, and argued that the SEC could not prove otherwise without access to the Chai source code. The messages between Shin and Kwon about “fake transactions,” Kwon’s lawyers claimed, related to a different project entirely.
The jury was ultimately unconvinced.
Having been found liable, Kwon and Terraform will be dealt a financial penalty, the size of which will be confirmed by the judge at a later stage. They’ll likely be prevented from participating in the US securities market in the future. But the implications of the case spill further afield.
Before the trial, the defense had called for dismissal on the grounds that the SEC had misclassified UST, LUNA, and other Terraform tokens as securities—a specific class of financial instrument from which investors expect to profit—and, therefore, lacked jurisdiction. The debate over the appropriate classification of crypto is central to multiple ongoing legal disputes in the US, between the SEC and Ripple, Coinbase, and other firms. The crypto industry has repeatedly accused the SEC of “regulation by enforcement”—of wielding legal action instead of articulating clear rules for the road—and making a jurisdictional land grab.
However, in an opinion issued before the trial, Judge Jed Rakoff, who presided over the Kwon case in New York, rejected the arguments for dismissal. The SEC should be allowed to “resolve new and difficult questions posed by emerging technologies where the technologies impact markets that on their face appear to resemble securities markets,” he ruled.
The opinion does not establish a rule that other US judges are duty bound to follow, but in combination with the verdict in favor of the SEC, sets a precedent of sorts for a crypto organization having violated US securities laws. “This case is before a well-respected judge who is thorough and careful. He’s influential,” says Lisa Bragança, attorney at Bragança Law and former branch chief at the SEC. “A decision from him will be cited over and over again by fellow judges.”
Terraform had already signaled prior to the trial its intention to appeal an unfavorable verdict, citing the ambiguity over the proper classification of its tokens. The absence of Kwon from the courtroom, which denied him the ability to “sit at the counsel table, hear the testimony of witnesses, and respond,” says Bragança, could support the appeal bid.
In the absence of legislative direction from the US Congress, says Silva, the classification question will be settled only when a crypto case moves through the appellate courts, perhaps arriving eventually at the US Supreme Court. “It’s an evolving area of the law,” he says. “It’s crystallizing with each case that comes down. It just hasn’t crystallized yet.”
From 4,500 miles away in Montenegro, Kwon will have played his part.
A New York jury has found Terraform Labs and its Co-Founder, Do Kwon, guilty of deceiving investors about UST’s stability.
Terra’s stablecoin UST collapse in 2022 led to a $40 billion loss for investors and sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency sector. The verdict emerged from a two-week trial, marking a significant win for the SEC in its endeavor to tighten oversight of the digital currency space.
This judgment may also hint at the outcomes of forthcoming criminal trials against Kwon in both the United States and South Korea, where the criteria for establishing guilt are more severe.
Kwon, who controls 92% of Terraform, was detained in Montenegro for using a counterfeit passport and faces extradition to either the U.S. or South Korea. Both nations are pursuing criminal fraud charges against him.
Kwon’s potential extradition has become more likely after a recent ruling by Montenegro’s Supreme Court, challenging previous decisions favoring his transfer to Seoul.
After deliberating for under two hours, the jury concluded that Kwon and his company made false claims regarding the use of Terraform’s blockchain technology by Chai, a widely used payment app in Korea.
Additionally, the verdict pointed out misleading information about the UST stablecoin’s stability, purported to maintain a consistent value pegged to the US dollar through algorithms.
New York Anti Car Theft and Fraud Association partners with other fraud-fighting organizations and law enforcement agencies for training events.
ALBANY, N.Y., April 5, 2024 (Newswire.com)
– – The New York Anti Car Theft and Fraud Association (NYACT), New York’s association founded to provide training for insurance and law enforcement personnel to combat vehicle crime and insurance fraud, has announced their 2024 law enforcement and insurance special investigations unit trainings.
NYACT Board of Directors’ Chair, Nichole Soriano, Assistant Vice President Organized Fraud Travelers Investigative Services CIFI, stated “America is facing a surge in claims and the anti-fraud community needs up-to-date training to handle the increase of fraudulent activity and crime.” Each year, NYACT joins forces for joint trainings with National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), New York State Chapter of Special Investigations Units, Inc., New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, in addition to the New York State Police and dozens of local police and sheriff bureaus. NYACT works in cooperation to offer these trainings with New York State Attorney General’s offices, NYS Workers’ Compensation Board, and many other state agencies who are often speakers and featured guests. Soriano added, “This year due to new trends in the fraudulent claim and auto crime arena, it is more important than ever that we provide law enforcement and our insurance members with skills and tactics to not only solve cases and prosecute criminals but to also hopefully prevent crimes against the American public.”
NYACT’s mission is to provide premier training and networking opportunities to update law enforcement and insurance personnel on all aspects of detecting auto-related, medical, and other types of insurance claims fraud, auto theft programs and techniques. Since 1980, NYACT has sponsored hundreds of premier trainings and networking opportunities for thousands of law enforcement, state agencies, and industry personnel throughout New York state.
Two Florida brothers pleaded guilty Wednesday to insider trading charges, admitting making over $22 million illegally before the public announcement in 2021 that an acquisition firm was taking former President Donald Trump’s media company public.
Michael and Gerald Shvartsman entered their pleas to a single count of securities fraud in Manhattan federal court, where Judge Lewis J. Liman set sentencing for July 17.
The men said that they knew they were committing a crime when they made trades in October 2021 through a New York broker, buying shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp., a so-called blank check company designed to take another company public without an IPO. The pair had been tipped off that Digital World had planned to merge with Trump Media & Technology, whose main asset is the social media network Truth Social.
In October 2021, shares of Digital World soared more than 800% after the deal with Trump Media was announced.
The indictment against the brothers did not in any way implicate Trump — who is again seeking the presidency this year — or Trump Media & Technology Group, which last week began trading on the Nasdaq stock market and currently has a value of about $6.7 billion. Trump owns about 57% of the company.
“I’ve made a terrible mistake,” Gerald Shvartsman told the judge as he pleaded guilty. He added that it was “wrong and the mistake I will pay for dearly the rest of my life.”
His brother told the judge that he knew that his securities trades were wrong and illegal.
According to the indictment, the men invested millions of dollars in Digital World, and then sold the securities for $22 million in profits after the news about the Trump Media business was made public.
Sharing secrets with friends
At the time, Michael Shvartsman owned Rocket One Capital LLC, a venture capital firm, according to court papers.
According to court papers, the men shared their secrets with friends and employees, who also bought tens of thousands of units of securities ahead of the merger announcement with Trump Media & Technology Group.
The merger and public trading of Trump Media & Technology Group was eagerly anticipated by Trump’s political supporters, who viewed the Truth Social platform as a worthy response to Trump’s temporary ejection from some social media platforms after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Michael Shvartsman, 53, of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, and his brother Gerald Shvartsman, 46, of Aventura, Florida, remain free on bail while they await their sentencings. They were both arrested last June.
Federal sentencing guidelines in plea letters signed by the men recommended that Michael Shvartsman receive about four years in prison and his brother spend at least three years behind bars. The deals also call for Michael Schvartsman to forfeit $18.2 million in profits and for his brother to relinquish $4.6 million.
In a release, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Insider trading is cheating, plain and simple, and today’s convictions should remind anyone who may be tempted to corrupt the integrity of the stock market that it will earn them a ticket to prison.”
In a report last week on AI and cybersecurity, the U.S. Department of the Treasury said that, while banks tend to share plenty of information with each other for the purposes of cybersecurity and anti-money laundering, they have practiced “insufficient data sharing” in the area of fraud prevention.
The dearth of banks sharing their fraud data undercuts smaller banks’ efforts to train anti-fraud AI models— models that many banks hope will replace rule-based engines, deny lists and device fingerprinting in the fight to detect and prevent transaction-related crimes such as money laundering and fraud.
Treasury acknowledged a general gap in the data available to financial institutions for training AI models of all kinds, but the report said the gap is “significant in the area of fraud prevention,” which the report contrasted with robust cybersecurity data sharing efforts led by organizations including the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center.
“The accuracy of machine learning-based systems in identifying and modeling fraudulent behavioral patterns correlates directly with the scale, scope (variety of datasets) and quality of data available to firms,” the report reads.
The report said “most financial institutions” interviewed for the report, which was based on 42 interviews, expressed the need for better collaboration in the domain of fraud prevention, particularly as fraudsters themselves have been using AI and machine learning technologies.
“Sharing of fraud data would support the development of sophisticated fraud detection tools and better identification of emerging trends or risks,” the report said.
However, while such information sharing could improve fraud detection, it “also raises privacy concerns,” the report said, as it would involve collecting and storing sensitive financial information including transaction histories and personal behaviors. Data anonymization and algorithmic transparency — i.e., helping customers understand how their data is used — could mitigate these issues, the report said.
Treasury said in the report that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which is a bureau of Treasury, might be well positioned to support fraud information-sharing efforts between banks, to ensure that smaller financial institutions “are benefitting from the advancements in AI technology development for countering fraud,” the report said. Core providers could also play this role, according to the report.
While many vendors offer smaller banks access to AI-based transaction monitoring systems, Treasury’s report said internal development at banks “offers advantages in oversight and control of the development, testing, transparency, and governance of models and access to sufficient data monitoring for model risk management evaluation purposes.”
For the moment, the report cited efforts by two institutions that are already working to close the fraud information-sharing gap: The Bank Policy Institute and the American Bankers Association.
The Bank Policy Institute, a public policy research and advocacy organization, told Congress in February that, as part of the effort to promote and enable data and intelligence sharing between institutions, the institute has established BITS, an “executive-level forum” for bankers to collaborate on policy advocacy, promote critical infrastructure resilience, strengthen cybersecurity and reduce fraud.
The American Bankers Association, a trade organization and bank industry lobbying group, is set to launch an information-sharing exchange in the first half of this year, which the association says will help member banks fight fraud.
As an example of how the exchange will work, in fraud cases known as business-email compromise, the platform will enable banks to alert their peers with key information about the account of the alleged fraudster, said Paul Benda, executive vice president of risk, cybersecurity and fraud at the American Bankers Association.
“The idea here is to allow banks to share this information amongst other banks in a near-real-time manner so they can integrate this data into their payment flows, into their risk-scoring systems, to stop that money from going out,” Benda said.
The association said its long-term goal is to make the exchange available to all financial institutions that are covered by Section 314(b) of the Patriot Act, which gives financial institutions the right to share information that could be used to identify transactions that might involve money laundering or terrorist funding.
As for the consequences of failing to promote adequate fraud information sharing, several institutions Treasury interviewed said “there may be a risk of future consolidation towards larger institutions” if “smaller financial institutions are not supported in closing this critical gap,” according to the report.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Orlando City Commissioner Regina Hill today, days after she was arrested and indicted for alleged elder abuse and fraud. The suspension came less than two hours before she was set to join a City Council meeting.
DeSantis’ office at 12:12 p.m. Monday issued an executive order formally suspending Hill from her role as City Commissioner for the city of Orlando. Hill has served as the representative of the Parramore neighborhood and other parts of west Orlando since 2013. The executive order was emailed to the media about 15 minutes ahead of the start of the council’s 2 o’clock meeting.
“Regina I. Hill is prohibited from performing any official act, duty, or function of public office; from receiving any pay or allowance; and from being entitled to any of the emoluments or privileges of public office during the period of this suspension, which period shall be from today until a further Executive Order is issued or as otherwise provided by law,” DeSantis’ order reads, in part.
Under Florida law, DeSantis is authorized to suspend any elected municipal officer who is indicted or informed against for the commission of a state felony or misdemeanor, the order states. The governor may also suspend from office an elected municipal officer for “malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty, habitual drunkenness, incompetence, or permanent inability to perform official duties.”
According to the city charter, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer has 10 days after a suspension to call a special election, which must occur within 45 days of being called.
During the city council’s scheduled meeting Monday afternoon, Dyer said city staff will be working with the Supervisor of Elections office to schedule that special election for Tuesday, May 21.
City council plans to hold a special meeting to discuss the logistics of that process on Monday, April 8, Dyer added, with Hill absent from the dais.
Commissioner Hill, a Parramore native, was arrested last Thursday following a grand jury indictment on felony charges of elder exploitation, personal identification fraud and mortgage fraud. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has been investigating Hill for over a year, and the investigation, per the agency, is still ongoing.
Hill pleaded not guilty last week to the seven felony charges she faces. The 58-year-old city commissioner was reportedly bailed out of Orange County Jail Thursday afternoon, the day of her arrest, on a $40,000 bond. If convicted of all charges, the FDLE has stated that she could face up to 180 years in prison.
Hill, who has an arrest record dating back decades, has been accused of exploiting a 96-year-old constituent and defrauding the elderly woman by spending over $100,000 of the elderly woman’s money for Hill’s own personal benefit or best interest, using those funds for personal purchases such as vacations, home renovations for one of the victim’s properties, a facelift, and expensive perfume. (The victim is described in court documents as having a cognitive disability and age-related infirmities, so we are not naming her for privacy reasons.)
The FDLE alleges that Hill also fraudulently obtained a second power of attorney to buy a home worth more than $400,0000 with the elderly victim as the co-signer. The victim allegedly told FDLE agents that this was done without her knowledge or consent. Hill has denied the allegations, and told Spectrum News 13 in a statement last week that she “loved and cared for” the elderly woman “like my own family.”
Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in the sudden collapse of the FTX crypto exchange. Prosecutors say he defrauded customers out of more than $8 billion, one of the largest financial crimes in U.S. history. Errol Barnett reports.
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Orlando city commissioner Regina Hill was arrested Thursday following a grand jury indictment released the day before on charges of elder exploitation, personal identification fraud, and mortgage fraud.
Hill, a Parramore native first elected to represent her home neighborhood and other parts of west Orlando in 2013, has pleaded not guilty to the seven felony charges she faces. The 58-year-old city commissioner was reportedly bailed out of Orange County Jail Thursday afternoon, on a $40,000 bond. If convicted of all charges, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement states that Hill could face up to 180 years in prison.
Hill has been accused of exploiting a 96-year-old constituent and defrauding the elderly woman by spending over $100,000 of the elderly woman’s money for Hill’s own personal benefit, including personal purchases such as vacations, home renovations, a facelift, and expensive perfume. (We are not naming the alleged victim for privacy reasons.)
The FDLE, which has been investigating Hill’s alleged mistreatment for over a year, also said that Hill fraudulently obtained a second power of attorney to buy a home worth more than $400,0000 with the elderly victim as the co-signer. This was allegedly done without the victim’s knowledge or consent. Hill has also reportedly been living with her son and his girlfriend in one of the victim’s vacant homes.
Hill has been accused of manipulating the woman by securing power of attorney over her shortly after they first met in 2021. The victim is described in court filings as having a cognitive disability and age-related infirmities.
Reportedly, the two met after code enforcement informed Hill of dilapidated conditions of the victim’s home. A circuit judge in Orange County issued a temporary protective injunction, cutting off Hill’s access to the victim’s money and all contact with the victim, earlier this month.
Hill has denied the allegations of mistreatment, which come from Tampa-based woman Adriane Alexander. According to court filings by the victim, Alexander is the daughter of a lifelong friend of the victim’s and has known the victim all of her life. Alexander displaced Hill and secured power of attorney over the elderly victim in February.
Hill has specifically been indicted by grand jurors of Orange County on seven charges: three counts of exploitation of an elderly person in excess of $50,000; one count of a scheme to defraud $50,000 or more; two counts of personal identification fraud; and one count of mortgage fraud exceeding $100,000.
The FDLE has reportedly declined to comment on any allegation of abuse of office, as the agency was strictly investigating Hill as a private citizen, according to The Daily Beast. A city spokesperson told Orlando Weekly in a statement that the city is aware of Hill’s arrest and the charges levied against her, but said the city does not have the authority to discipline an elected official “as that power lies with the Governor.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis does indeed have the authority to suspend local elected officials (as when he suspended state attorney general Monique Worrell), and told reporters on Wednesday that if a grand jury did indict a municipal elected official, he “would suspend.”
The city spokesperson confirmed that, pursuant to the city’s charter, the city would be prepared to conduct a special election to temporarily fill Hill’s District 5 seat, if Hill is indeed suspended. The city did not respond to our request for comment on how long they have been aware of the FDLE investigation into Hill.
Hill is no stranger to legal troubles, nor life challenges. She has a decades-long history of arrest records dating back to the 1980’s, ranging from DUIs to an arrest in Alabama last year for misdemeanor public intoxication and disorderly conduct charges that were later dropped. She’s also faced significant challenges, from suffering the loss of her 24-year-old daughter Arvonni in 2015, to the the loss of a niece in 2021, who was killed at a local gas station.
NEW YORK — Crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in prison for a massive fraud on hundreds of thousands of customers that unraveled with the collapse of FTX, once one of the world’s most popular platforms for exchanging digital currency.
Though he described Bankman-Fried as “extremely smart,” U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan delivered a blistering analysis of Bankman-Fried and his crimes before announcing a sentence that was half of what prosecutors sought and less than a quarter of the 105 years recommended by the court’s probation officers.
“There is absolutely no doubt that Mr. Bankman-Fried’s name right now is pretty much mud around the world,” Kaplan said of the 32-year-old California man who seemed atop the cryptocurrency universe before his businesses collapsed in November 2022, leaving customers, investors and lenders short over $11 billion, which the judge ordered him to forfeit.
He was convicted in November of fraud and conspiracy — a dramatic fall from a crest of success that included a Super Bowl advertisement, testimony before Congress and celebrity endorsements from stars like quarterback Tom Brady, basketball point guard Stephen Curry and comedian Larry David.
Kaplan imposed the sentence in the same Manhattan courtroom where, four months previously, Bankman-Fried testified that he had intended to revolutionize the emerging cryptocurrency market with his innovative and altruistic ideas, not steal.
The judge said Bankman-Fried repeatedly committed perjury on the witness stand in testimony that was “often evasive, hair-splitting, dodging questions.”
Kaplan said the sentence reflected the risk that Bankman-Fried “will be in position to do something very bad in the future. And it’s not a trivial risk at all.” He added that the sentence was fashioned “for the purpose of disabling him to the extent that can appropriately be done for a significant period of time.”
Kaplan said he would advise the Federal Bureau of Prisons to send Bankman-Fried to a medium-security prison near San Francisco because his notoriety, his association with vast wealth, his autism and his social awkwardness are likely to make him especially vulnerable at a high-security facility.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Roos had recommended a prison sentence of 40 to 50 years, saying it was the only way to ensure “the defendant doesn’t do it again.”
Prosecutors said tens of thousands of people and companies worldwide lost billions of dollars since 2017 after Bankman-Fried looted FTX customer accounts that he promised were safe to make millions of dollars of illegal political donations, bribe Chinese officials, make risky investments, buy luxury real estate in the Caribbean and live lavishly.
Kaplan agreed with prosecutors Thursday that Bankman-Fried should not be credited because some investors and customers might recover some money. He noted that customers lost about $8 billion, investors lost $1.7 billion and lenders were shorted by $1.3 billion.
When he spoke, Bankman-Fried stood and apologized in a rambling statement: “A lot of people feel really let down. And they were very let down. And I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry about what happened at every stage.”
He added, “My useful life is probably over. It’s been over for a while now, from before my arrest.”
Wearing his khaki-colored prison uniform and chained at the ankles, Bankman-Fried seemed to briefly get emotional as he spoke for about 20 minutes, expressing regret about “a lot of mistakes” but casting some blame onto others. His trademark messy and bushy hair had returned from the trimmer look he displayed at trial.
He praised some of his former executives and workmates, saying: “They threw themselves into it and then I threw all of that away. It haunts me every day.”
Kaplan later criticized Bankman-Fried’s remarks, saying he expressed “never a word of remorse for the commission of terrible crimes.”
As his misty-eyed client looked on, defense attorney Marc Mukasey said the portrayal of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate as an “arrogant greedy swindler who thought he would get away with fleecing the hard-earned money of hard-working people” was wrong.
“Sam was not a ruthless financial serial killer who set out every morning to hurt people,” Mukasey said in court after urging in court papers that any prison sentence be in the single digits. “Sam Bankman-Fried doesn’t make decisions with malice in his heart. He makes decisions with math in his head.”
The judge later criticized Bankman-Fried’s calculations, saying he was indeed “a math nerd, who looked at decisions in terms of math, expected value.”
He cited trial testimony in which Bankman-Fried’s former girlfriend and fellow executive Caroline Ellison said Bankman-Fried once told her that his willingness to embrace risk was such that he’d be happy to flip a coin if it came up tails and the world was destroyed — as long as if it came up heads, the world would be twice as good.
The judge said Bankman-Fried utilized that risk-taking nature at his companies, “betting on expected value” and weighing the risk of getting caught with the probability of large gains.
“That was the game,” Kaplan said. “It’s his nature.”
Bankman-Fried’s attorneys, friends and family had urged leniency, saying he was unlikely to re-offend. They also said FTX’s investors have largely recovered their funds — a claim disputed by bankruptcy lawyers, FTX and its creditors.
“Mr. Bankman-Fried continues to live a life of delusion,” wrote John Ray, the CEO of FTX who has been cleaning up the bankrupt company. “The ‘business’ he left on November 11, 2022 was neither solvent nor safe.”
One FTX customer, Sunil Kavuri, spoke at sentencing, saying he’d traveled from London on behalf of over 200 victims who had sent impact statements to the judge.
He said he’d spoken to other “victims just like myself who had their dreams destroyed” and had lived “the FTX nightmare every day for almost two years, every day, every night, a lot of crying, sleepless nights.”
Bankman-Fried’s parents, both Stanford Law School professors, did not speak as they left the courthouse Thursday, but later issued a statement: “We are heartbroken and will continue to fight for our son.”
Bankman-Fried, of Palo Alto, California, was once worth billions of dollars on paper as the co-founder and CEO of FTX, which was the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world at one time.
FTX let investors buy dozens of virtual currencies, from Bitcoin to more obscure ones like Shiba Inu Coin. Flush with billions of dollars of investors’ cash, Bankman-Fried took out a Super Bowl advertisement to promote his business and bought the naming rights to an arena in Miami.
But the collapse of cryptocurrency prices in 2022 took its toll on FTX, ultimately leading to its downfall. FTX’s hedge fund affiliate, Alameda Research, had bought billions of dollars of various crypto investments that lost considerable amounts of value in 2022. Bankman-Fried tried to plug the holes in Alameda’s balance sheet with FTX customer funds.
Three people from Bankman-Fried’s inner circle pleaded guilty to related crimes and testified at his trial.
Besides Ellison, two onetime friends of Bankman-Fried — Gary Wang and Nishad Singh — testified they felt they were directed by Bankman-Fried to commit fraud.
A US federal judge in the Southern District of New York has sentenced Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, to 25 years in prison. In addition, Bankman-Fried has been ordered to forfeit $11 billion.
Last November, at the end of a month-long trial, Bankman-Fried—known colloquially as SBF—was found guilty of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy in connection with the collapse of FTX.
The exchange had fallen to pieces in November 2022 after running dry of funds with which to process customer withdrawals. The money was missing, the jury concluded, because Bankman-Fried had conducted an elaborate fraud whereby billions of dollars’ worth of user funds was swept into a sibling company and used to bankroll high-risk trading, venture bets, debt repayments, personal loans, political donations, and a lavish life in the Bahamas.
In a court filing, the US government described the affair as “one of the largest financial frauds in history.” Bankman-Fried had demonstrated “unmatched greed and hubris” and a “brazen disrespect for the rule of law,” it said.
“The judgment has to adequately reflect the seriousness of the crime. This was a very serious crime,” said Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the case, before delivering the sentence. He cited the “enormous harm” inflicted by Bankman-Fried, the “brazenness of his actions,” and “his incredible flexibility with the truth.”
Kaplan also criticized Bankman-Fried for his conduct on the witness stand during trial. Not only did Bankman-Fried perjure himself, the judge claimed, he was also “evasive” and “hairsplitting” in his responses to the prosecution’s questions. “I’ve been doing this job for almost 30 years, and I’ve never seen a performance quite like this,” said Kaplan.
As Bankman-Fried received the sentence, he stood with his head lowered and hands together, an incongruously placid expression on his face.
The sentencing completes a remarkable fall from grace. Between 2019 and 2022, Bankman-Fried steered FTX to a $32 billion dollar valuation, becoming for a time the world’s youngest self-made billionaire. The 32-year-old fraternized with regulators, politicians, sports stars, and supermodels. He won the adoration of venture capitalists, who fawned over him, and the media, which lionized him as the “next Warren Buffett” and the “Michael Jordan of crypto.” Privately, Bankman-Fried reportedly told others that he aspired to be the President of the United States.
In his sentencing statement, Judge Kaplan cited political aspiration as one of the underlying motives of Bankman-Fried’s crime, pointing to his enormous contributions to candidates on both the left and right as “the biggest political financial crime in history.”
“He wanted to be a hugely politically influential person in this country,” Kaplan said. “The goal was power and influence.”
Instead of that political future—at least for years to come—Bankman-Fried will be consigned to a far less illustrious life in prison.
In considering the appropriate sentence for Bankman-Fried, the judge was required to take into account a blend of factors beyond the details of the underlying crimes. Those include the extent of the financial losses dealt upon the victims, the defendant’s character and history, whether any obstruction of justice had taken place, the likelihood of recidivism, and so forth.
The U.S. DOJ has submitted 52 victims’ statements to the Attorney’s Office, as Sam Bankman-Fried is scheduled for sentencing on Thursday.
The statements revealed the emotional and financial distress of numerous victims. A former member of the Unsecured Creditors Committee (UCC) discloses a personal claim of $4 million.
FTX’s collapse took all of the victim’s life savings and forced his resignation due to his inability to sustain a no-income period. The former UCC member expresses a loss beyond finances, describing that the incident had forced him into critical depression.
The victim details how FTX’s collapse disrupted his home life, negatively impacting his marital bond and lifestyle. He argues for valuing assets based on their worth today, not just their value at the time of FTX’s bankruptcy filing.
DOJ has submitted further 52 Victim statements
Well done to everyone Common thread
Sullivan Cromwell lies to CFTC Sullivan Cromwell knew about Alameda backdoor We are not whole at petition date prices (debtor lies) Debtors ignoring property rights of customers Petition date… pic.twitter.com/CDcy70Nl3v
— Sunil (FTX Creditor Champion) (@sunil_trades) March 27, 2024
A Spanish investor describes the betrayal felt after investing savings with dreams of entrepreneurship. FTX’s high-profile advertising drew in this victim, but ultimately, the collapse shattered his plans for a future business.
An Italian victim went through her ‘worst nightmare,’ as she previously held funds in Celsius. She moved her funds to FTX, considering the exchange a safer choice. Following the collapse, she went into severe mental trauma, which ultimately impacted her marriage life. She calls for compensation based on current market values and criticizes the legal proceedings for insufficiently addressing victims’ needs.
The victim statements reveal the depth of emotional and mental impact caused by Sam Bankman-Fried, with each statement reflecting on how the incident drove them into depression and affected their family lives.
However, there might be some relief for the victims, as the exchange recently sold its shares in AI firm Anthropic for $884 million. For now, the victims expect Judge Lewis Kaplan to consider their stories when sentencing Sam Bankman-Fried and the Federal Court to reconsider their approach to reimbursement.
John Dickerson reports on the federal raids of homes owned by Sean “Diddy” Combs, Donald Trump’s reduced bond in his New York civil fraud trial, and what to know about ISIS-K after the attack in Moscow.
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Former President Trump’s bond in his New York fraud trial has been reduced to $175 million, down from nearly half a billion dollars. Trump’s “hush money” trial, meanwhile, is set to begin April 15. Robert Costa reports.
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9 Essential Strategies to Protect Your Heart and Wallet from Scammers on Dating Sites
You can read the blog below or watch it on YouTube by clicking here.
The internet has changed how we find companionship and connection, making it easier to meet new people through dating sites.
There are lots of potential matches out there, including many authentic, good-hearted men looking for a partner just like you.
However, as you’re navigating the dating sites, you want to be aware that scammers are there as well.
These men are con artists who will find a way to touch both your heart and your wallet.
I don’t want to scare you because there are good men online for you to date.
Yet, you want to be aware of the clues that will tip you off to these con artists.
So, I’ve put together 9 telltale tips to help you identify the red flags that will safeguard both your emotions and your finances as you journey through the world of online dating.
1. The Profile Pitfall
Your profile is your window to the dating world; hence, when it comes to personal details about your job and income keep it vague.
You can say you’re a nurse or an executive but don’t mention where or how much you make.
Also, you want to be aware of coming across as needy and lonely in your profile.
It makes you perfect prey for scammers looking to hook you into their scams.
2. The Overseas Ordeal
He might tell you that he lives in a metropolitan city in the US but his work takes him elsewhere in the world.
Or he will claim to be on an oil rig or in the military.
He says he’s coming back to the states soon and, wants you to wait for him because he’s so excited to meet you.
These are huge red flags that are signs you’re probably dealing with a scammer!!!
3. Scamming Women Is His Job
These men are Professional Heartbreakers.
Most live in poorer countries around the world where jobs that pay well are scarce.
By working a couple of hours each day, and using a well crafted script, he can easily communicate with women in the US, find their weak spots, and make a fortune.
He often has an appealing British lilt to his voice that seems to promise romance and he uses it to his advantage to hook you.
4. What He’ll Tell You About Himself
He uses pictures of great looking men to lure you in knowing you’ll feel special being contacted by someone who is so handsome.
Look closely at those profile pictures.
They are often stock photos found on the internet of handsome models in ads selling items like hats or sunglasses.
When you ask for more pictures, he’ll send family pictures of children or grandchildren.
The big tip-off: he’s not in these family pictures because he can’t find family pics of the models’ image he’s used.
5. He Uses Romance to Lure You In
Women love romance and scammers know this has been missing in your life for a long time.
So he steals poems off the internet and sends them to you as if they were his own.
Your heart just melts and you bond with him which makes you even more vulnerable to his scheme.
6. He’ll Always Have An Excuse For Why He Can’t See You
He’ll tell you that he can’t wait to see you and that he’s making arrangements to travel in a month or two when he can get away from his business.
Right before you’re supposed to meet, he’ll give you an excuse for why he has to cancel the trip.
Broken promises of meeting in real life happen over and over again.
This is another HUGE TIP OFF you’re dealing with a scammer.
7. You Can’t Find Anything Concrete About Who This Man Is
Try searching his picture on Google.
More than likely nothing will show up.
The absence of a digital footprint is another tip off you’re connecting with a scammer.
8. How the scam works
He’ll spend hours chatting with you multiple times a day.
His male attentiveness feels amazing because he knows its probably been a while since a man has been this devoted to you.
But beware…. he is not there for conversation; he’s hunting for your weaknesses.
Sharing a similar tragedy is a common tactic scammers use to gain trust and pave the way for exploiting their victims.
For example, if you’ve lost a close member of your family, don’t be surprised if he tells you he has too.
He uses these holes in your heart to get you to trust him knowing it will be easier for you to bond with someone who has experienced the same loss as you.
And that’s when he’s ready to reign you in for the scam.
He shares news with you about a HUGE business opportunity he’s about to close but the bank isn’t able to extend the credit he requires to close the deal.
He just needs a little more money to finish it or he’ll lose everything including the personal investments he and his family have made, a situation that’s undoubtedly stressful and disheartening for him.
This is when he asks you for your help.
He’s laid the groundwork needed to capture your heart.
He knows from your conversations that you’re in love with him and he counts on you not wanting to see him suffer this devastating loss.
You want to help him so you wire the money he needs to his bank account.
And you never hear from him again.
9. A blueprint for keeping yourself beyond the reach of these swindlers
Date men closer to home.
Keep emails short and sweet, ideally between 5-10 at the most. Al technology has given scammers the ability to write decent emails. The tipoff is they are usually too perfect and filled with descriptive words that most men wouldn’t use.
Spend no more than a couple of hours on 1 or 2 phone calls max. This keeps you from divulging too much information that allows him to get closer to you.
Meet a man within 2-3 weeks of initial contact. (If a man tells you he’ll be out of the country for a month or two, tell him to give you a call when he gets back.)
When you’re uncertain, use Google Images to upload his profile picture. (This step lets you verify if the image truly represents him or if it might have been borrowed from someone else’s identity.)
Armed with the strategies and insights for avoiding scammers, the online world is still one of the best ways to meet a good man.
Remember to stay safe, keep an open mind, and maintain realistic expectations throughout your journey.
If you’d like further guidance and support, know that it’s always within reach—there are numerous resources you can explore below.
You’re not alone on this journey.
Believing in You!
Your Next Steps to Love after 50. . . .
💞 Feeling like you are on a merry-go-round of mismatched dates? Lets press pause and talk about how we can write a new love story for you. Click here to start our conversation. Tell me your story – I am here to listen and guide you towards meeting someone truly special.
If you are still gearing up for that step, I have plenty of insights and inspiration for you:
1. Subscribe to my YouTube Channel for heartfelt dating wisdom and uplifting success stories from women who have been just where you are. They found love, and so can you. Click here to watch and learn.
2. Discover a new chapter in your dating life with my book, “The Winning Dating Formula.” It is more than a book; it is your journey to love mapped out. And it is just a click away on Amazon. Click here and start attracting the love you deserve.
3. Join our Finding Love after 50 Facebook group to find camaraderie and connection. It is a warm and welcoming space to share your journey and receive support every step of the way. Click here to become part of our community.
4. On the lookout for a dating site that resonates with you? Browse through my personal selection of the best dating sites tailor-made for fabulous over 50s. Click here and say goodbye to guesswork.
Let these resources be your steppingstones to a love life filled with promise and joy. When you are ready, I am here to take that journey with you. Together, lets find your Mr. Right! 🌹
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Bosses at some of the U.K.’s largest banks faced confusion and chaos after discovering hundreds of fake documents relating to their financial assets, filed by an ordained “Dudeist priest” in Northern Ireland.
The alarm was raised by banking trade association UK Finance, which wrote to its members earlier this year warning that over 800 false loan documents relating to 190 of the country’s largest companies, including The Bank of Scotland, estate agent Knight Frank and private equity giant Macquarie, had been filed with Companies House.
According to The Times of London, the falsified documents marked each company’s loans as being repaid or “fully satisfied” despite all the charges still being outstanding.
While the mass filings at the start of the year could easily have been part of a complex state-sponsored cyberattack or fraud on an industrial scale, they were, in fact, the actions of just one man.
The individual in question is an unnamed meditation and acupuncture practitioner from Northern Ireland who identifies as a so-called Dudeist priest. Dudeism is a religious movement inspired by the Coen brothers’ 1998 movie The Big Lebowski, which advocates the practices followed by the film’s main character, Jeffrey “the Dude” Lebowski. The movement likens itself to Chinese Taoism with its “take it easy manifesto.”
The movie’s plot centers around the laid-back Lebowski who gets ensnared in a kidnapping conspiracy involving a millionaire who shares Lebowski’s name.
In an interview with The Times, the man, whose identity the outlet didn’t reveal, stated that he had made the filings as he believed the businesses concerned owed him money.
Fortune reviewed the list of companies shared by UK Finance that were impacted by the false dismissal of charges. Some of the banks tied to the unsatisfied charges include HSBC, NatWest, CBRE and Royal Bank of Canada.
The incident places further scrutiny on Companies House, an agency of the UK government that maintains the register of companies.
Companies House has been heavily criticized in recent years as the publisher of often incorrect or misleading data about U.K. companies, a powerful tool used by bogus companies, fake directorships and money launderers to hide their true intentions.
Things are starting to change, with new powers granted to the agency last year under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act, which allows Companies House to finally start scrutinizing the data submitted to it. However, a surge in demand for its services means concerns surrounding its operations impact many companies and individuals—and therefore, are essential to address.
“We have taken steps to block the account that is linked with these transactions and, using new powers available to us, have removed all the related filings,” a Companies House spokesperson told Fortune in a statement. “We are contacting the companies concerned and have launched an urgent review of our processes. We continue to work with law enforcement partners where appropriate.”
Northern Ireland’s Dudeist priest
The issues surrounding false filings have largely been resolved now—but ironically, the person behind it didn’t have a clear rationale for pursuing the companies that he did.
Speaking to The Times, the man said: “I didn’t know anything about it [the filings] until I was reading it and then I was sending things away all at once.
“When I found something new I’d sink into it a bit too much and then I would get a bit scattered. I think if I spread it out and read it slowly and took my time maybe things would have been different, but that’s not what happened, unfortunately.”
All the false filings have now been removed from the Companies House website, with a “rectified” statement prefixed. For instance, Companies House’s record on Nero Coffee Roasting Limited said: “Rectified The material was formerly considered to form part of the register but is no longer considered by the registrar to do so.”
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Lawyers for former President Donald Trump say he’s unlikely to secure a bond for the nearly half-billion he and other defendants need to pause a judge’s February ruling in a New York civil fraud case.
They’re asking an appeals court to stay the judgment while Trump challenges it. The judgment, with accrued interest, saddled the defendants with a $464 million tab. In a nearly 5,000-page filing on Monday, Trump’s lawyers wrote that “a bond requirement of this enormous magnitude—effectively requiring cash reserves approaching $1 billion….is unprecedented.”
They called the finding “grossly disproportional” to the offenses Trump and others were found liable for, specifically a decade-long scheme to defraud banks and insurers using overvaluations of properties and Trump’s net worth.
“Very few bonding companies will consider a bond of anything approaching that magnitude,” wrote the lawyers, Alina Habba, Clifford Robert, Christopher Kise and John Sauer.
Trump Organization general counsel Alan Garten wrote in the filing that surety companies are unwilling to accept real estate as collateral.
Garten said that the company “approached more than 30 surety companies, proposing to pledge as collateral a combination of cash or cash equivalents and unencumbered real estate holdings…[T]he vast majority simply do not have the financial strength to handle a bond of this size. Of those that do, the vast majority are unwilling to accept the risk associated with such a large bond.”
Trump’s filing in the case came one week after he posted a more than $90 million bond in order to appeal another recent legal defeat, a January decision by a federal jury that unanimously concluded he defamed the writer E. Jean Carroll. In that case, he secured a bond through a subsidiary of the insurance giant Chubb.
The filing includes an affidavit from an insurance executive who said he has “been in contact with some of the largest insurance carriers in the world in an effort to try and obtain a bond” for Trump in the case.
The executive, Gary Giuletti, president of private insurance firm Lockton Companies, wrote that he believes it “is not possible under the circumstances presented” for the defendants to secure a bond.
“Simply put, a bond of this size is rarely, if ever, seen,” Giuletti wrote.
Giuletti testified as an expert witness in Trump’s defense during the fraud trial, describing himself as a longtime friend who is a member of “a bunch of his clubs.” He is also an insurance broker doing business for the Trump Organization.
Judge Arthur Engoron was critical of Giuletti’s testimony during the trial, as well as the defense team’s decision to use him as a witness.
“In its over 20 years on the bench, this Court has never encountered an expert witness who not only was a close personal friend of a party, but also had a personal financial interest in the outcome of the case for which he is being offered as an expert,” Engoron wrote in his Feb. 16 ruling.
A spokesperson for Attorney General Letitia James declined to comment. James’ office has said Trump has until March 25 to put up a bond for the entire judgment in order to prevent her office from collecting the damages while he appeals. James has said the state could seek to seize property from Trump if he does not pay the judgment.
Graham Kates is an investigative reporter covering criminal justice, privacy issues and information security for CBS News Digital. Contact Graham at KatesG@cbsnews.com or grahamkates@protonmail.com
Police in Fairfax County, Virginia, are warning residents to avoid callers that ask for money and immediately report any scams they come across.
Fraudsters continue to rip people off using scam calls, gift cards and bitcoin ATMs. Police in Fairfax County, Virginia, are warning residents to avoid callers that ask for money and immediately report any scams they come across.
“They’re taking advantage of people’s fear,” said Sgt. Jacob Pearce.
Unsuspecting victims will receive a call from an unknown number, posing as the fraud department from a bank or other business.
“They convey a sense of urgency that you need to act right now to avoid arrest or to avoid more fraud from occurring,” Pearce said.
The caller will then direct people to purchase gift cards and make deposits into ATMs, both means of payment that become very hard to trace.
Scammers have also posed as police officers in order to swindle money.
Police alerted the community back in December of these schemes but since then, the department has seen more than a dozen additional cases.
Most of the cases involve transactions of around $10,000 but one victim in January was defrauded of $31,100, according to Fairfax County police.
Pearce said if you receive a call claiming to be a fraud department from Amazon or your bank, “Hang up, find the legitimate number for that institution, or go through your banking app or the legitimate website and then contact their fraud department that way.”
That will usually clear up any confusion.
“Legitimate companies may leave a voicemail or follow up with a text message or an email if there is fraudulent activity going on in one of your financial institutions,” Pearce said. “You should never feel pressured to share personal information or banking information with somebody that’s on the phone.”
The police also encourage you to consult with family or friends before making any sort of similar financial decisions.
If you find yourself caught up in the middle of a scam, even if you’ve gone all the way through to depositing money or sending prepaid gift card information, you can contact Fairfax County’s Financial Crimes Unit to file an online report.
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