Tag: Bitcoin

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Article: Prosecutor: Alleged money launderer Ian Freeman holds $1.6 million in Bitcoins

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Prosecutor: Alleged money launderer Ian Freeman holds $1.6 million in Bitcoins

Mark Hayward New Hampshire Union Leader, 19 March 2021

CONCORD — Free-Keene leader Ian Freeman has accessed $1.66 million worth of Bitcoins and had $178,000 in cash in his safe when his house was raided by federal authorities this week, prosecutors said on Friday.

Federal prosecutors also said Freeman has access to gold, silver, and possibly other liquid assets and cryptocurrencies. Freeman — who faces eight felony charges including money laundering, wire fraud and conspiracy — could tap those assets and use them to flee if a judge releases him on bail, prosecutors warned.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Georgina MacDonald voiced those concerns during an hour-plus bail hearing streamed live Friday from U.S. District Court in Concord.

The hearing ended with Judge Magistrate Andrea Johnstone deferring a decision and promising a written order as soon as possible.

On Tuesday, the FBI arrested Freeman and five others who are part of the libertarian Free Keene movement on charges related to a Bitcoin-dollar exchange system they ran through churches they were closely affiliated with.

Freeman is the only one to face charges of money laundering and operating a continuing financial crimes enterprise, which call for mandatory minimum sentences of 10 years.

MacDonald termed Freeman a sophisticated cybercriminal.

Close to 70 people, including media, FBI agents and some with cryptic names, logged on for the hearing. Freeman participated via video feed from Merrimack County jail.

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Article: Free Keene leaders arrested for money laundering in FBI raids; illegal Bitcoin exchange alleged

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Free Keene leaders arrested for money laundering in FBI raids; illegal Bitcoin exchange alleged

Damien Fisher and Josie Albertson-Grove, 16 March 2021

Six people involved with the libertarian Free Keene group are facing charges — including wire fraud and money laundering — related to an unlicensed cryptocurrency exchange that federal prosecutors said processed some $10 million since 2016.

Prosecutors say the six people ran an unlicensed online exchange that let people swap dollars for Bitcoin, and collected fees for their service.

The six charged are Ian Freeman (formerly Ian Bernard), 40, of Keene; Colleen Fordham, 60, of Alstead; Renee Spinella, 23, of Derry; Andrew Spinella, 35, of Derry; Nobody (formerly Richard Paul), 52, of Keene; and Aria DiMezzo, 34, of Keene, who ran for Cheshire County sheriff in 2020.

The cryptocurrency exchange used bank accounts that purported to be for churches, lied to banks and told customers to lie to banks to keep up the ruse, prosecutors said in an indictment.

Beginning in the spring of 2016, prosecutors said, the group opened bank accounts for the Shire Free Church, the Crypto Church of New Hampshire, the Church of the Invisible Hand and the Reformed Satanic Church.

Freeman told the Union Leader earlier this year that the Bitcoin transaction business funds the activities of the Shire Free Church.

Freeman said one of his bank accounts was frozen last year as part of an investigation. He acknowledged there is fraud in the Bitcoin world, but said he was not part of that type of business.

“I’ve got what I think are pretty good procedures,” he said.

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Article: Mt. Gox CEO Fights Class In $400M Bitcoin Fraud Case

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Mt. Gox CEO Fights Class In $400M Bitcoin Fraud Case

Clark Mindock, 10 March 2021

The former CEO of defunct Japanese bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox doubled down on his opposition to class certification for customers of the service, saying a plan recently announced in Japan would better compensate them than U.S. litigation would.

Mark Karpeles asked an Illinois federal court Tuesday to weigh the impact of a plan created through a Japanese rehabilitation proceeding to return assets to Mt. Gox customers. The former CEO said that though the plan’s details are private, public estimates related to the Japanese plan indicate that former customers could potentially be compensated well through the deal and with much lower costs than proceeding with American litigation. Continue reading “Article: Mt. Gox CEO Fights Class In $400M Bitcoin Fraud Case”

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Article: Nasdaq Futures Tumble As Value Surge Makes Europe A Sea Of Green

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Nasdaq Futures Tumble As Value Surge Makes Europe A Sea Of Green

TYLER DURDEN, 08 March 2021

US equity futures and global markets jumped higher at the reopen of Asian trading late on Sunday following news of the Senate’s passage of the Biden $1.9TN stimulus plan and the spike higher in oil following the Houthi drone attack on Aramco facilities in the Gulf, but have since dipped amid renewed reflationary fears which pushed Treasury yields as high as 1.61% overnight hitting tech stocks with lofty valuations even as value stocks and European markets were broadly in the red. After rising above $71, Brent has since faded gains and was last trading near where it closed Friday at $69. Bitcoin soared as HK-based firm the latest institution to convert cash into Ethereum and Bitcoin.

At 7:10 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 16 points, or 0.07%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 16.5 points, or 0.44%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 154.25 points, or 1.20%. Continue reading “Article: Nasdaq Futures Tumble As Value Surge Makes Europe A Sea Of Green”

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Article: Rule of Law Collapsed in USA – Martin Armstrong

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Rule of Law Collapsed in USA – Martin Armstrong

Greg Hunter,  26 February 2021

Legendary financial and geopolitical cycle analyst Martin Armstrong says now that the stolen election is over, get ready for lawlessness to reign. We start with the Supreme Court that refused to hear the Trump case on Pennsylvania voting fraud. There are three more 2020 Election voter fraud cases pending at the nation’s highest court. Armstrong says, “I don’t think they are going to take any of them. Look, the rule of law has absolutely collapsed in the United States. It’s just a joke at this point. . . . You swear an oath to uphold the Constitution. It’s not whenever you feel like it. . . . This is not only a denial of due process but the civil rights of everybody in the country. They effectively said Pennsylvania changed the rules against the (state) legislature in the middle of an election, and we are not going to hear the case. So, they are effectively saying politicians can change the rules of an election at any time, and it doesn’t have to be constitutional. Refusing to take this case is a disaster because next election they can choose to do the same thing at any time.” Continue reading “Article: Rule of Law Collapsed in USA – Martin Armstrong”

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Article: The Elon Musk Effect: The Timeless Power Of Disruption And Brand Authority

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The Elon Musk Effect: The Timeless Power Of Disruption And Brand Authority

Ben Constanty, 25 February 2021

The odds are good that you have been impacted by the network effect, or when a product increases in value when more individuals begin adopting and using said product. A few examples include the telephone and the internet.

Company CEOs such as Elon Musk have recently expedited this process by using their personal brands to create a massive network effect in different industries. To get a better understanding, we need to dive in further. Continue reading “Article: The Elon Musk Effect: The Timeless Power Of Disruption And Brand Authority”

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Article: Bitfinex, Tether owner pays $18.5 million fine to settle NYAG cryptocurrency cover-up charges

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Bitfinex, Tether owner pays $18.5 million fine to settle NYAG cryptocurrency cover-up charges

Jonathan Stempel, 23 February 2021

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The owner of the Tether cryptocurrency and Bitfinex trading platform will pay an $18.5 million fine to settle charges it commingled client and corporate funds to cover up $850 million that went missing, New York Attorney General Letitia James said on Tuesday.

James said the civil settlement with Hong Kong-based iFinex Inc and related entities will also require them to halt trading activity with New Yorkers.

Bitfinex was accused of having sent the $850 million to Crypto Capital Corp, a payment processor believed to be in Panama, without telling clients, and after the funds went missing, draining at least $700 million from Tether’s reserves. Continue reading “Article: Bitfinex, Tether owner pays $18.5 million fine to settle NYAG cryptocurrency cover-up charges”

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Article: Meet Patrick Byrne: Bitcoin Messiah, CEO of Overstock, Scourge of Wall Street

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Meet Patrick Byrne: Bitcoin Messiah, CEO of Overstock, Scourge of Wall Street

Cade Metz, WIRED, 18 February 2021

The problem with the modern economy, Byrne says, is that it rests on the whims of our government and our big banks, that each has the power to create money that’s backed by nothing but themselves. Thanks to what’s called fractional reserve banking, a bank can take in $10 in deposits, but then loan out $100. The government can make more dollars at any time, instantly reducing the currency’s value. Eventually, he says, laying down a classic libertarian metaphor, this “magic money tree” will come crashing down.

Continue reading “Article: Meet Patrick Byrne: Bitcoin Messiah, CEO of Overstock, Scourge of Wall Street”

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Article: Canadian Bitcoin ETF turns up heat on U.S. fund managers, regulators

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Canadian Bitcoin ETF turns up heat on U.S. fund managers, regulators

Jeff Benjamin, 12 February 2021

Purpose Investments announced Friday morning that it has been cleared by Canadian securities regulators to launch Purpose Bitcoin ETF (BTCC), which is the first Bitcoin ETF in North America to gain regulatory approval, according to Bloomberg.

The new ETF is scheduled to start trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange next week and will be available to U.S. investors through brokerages that have access to the Canadian exchange.

There are a handful of other active filings awaiting regulatory approval in Canada, as well ETF filings before the Securities and Exchange Commission in the U.S. from VanEck and Bitwise Asset Management. Continue reading “Article: Canadian Bitcoin ETF turns up heat on U.S. fund managers, regulators”

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Game On In Silver: This Could Be For Real

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Andrew Hecht | 21.02.02

During the past several days, the highly-speculative silver market became a central focus of the social media crowd. Markets move high when buyers are more aggressive than sellers and vice versa. Silver is now the next target for the herd that cashed in on GameStop and other shares with short interest. Silver and GME shares are very different assets, but the price action puts them in the same category in the current landscape.

Continue reading “Game On In Silver: This Could Be For Real”

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Article: As gold crashes, Jim Cramer says money is ‘all going to crypto’

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As gold crashes, Jim Cramer says money is ‘all going to crypto’

Cointelegraph, 08 January 2021

As the price of gold plunged on Friday, CNBC’s Jim Cramer said the rise of crypto may partly explain the sudden disinterest in the precious metal — a potential sign that the mainstream has flipped the script on Bitcoin (BTC) and digital assets.
Continue reading “Article: As gold crashes, Jim Cramer says money is ‘all going to crypto’”

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Article: FOREX-Bitcoin breaks $20,000 for first time, Switzerland named currency manipulator

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FOREX-Bitcoin breaks $20,000 for first time, Switzerland named currency manipulator

Suzanne Barlyn, 16 December 2020

Bitcoin smashed through $20,000 for the first time on Wednesday while the Swiss franc gained after the U.S. Treasury labelled Switzerland a currency manipulator.

Bitcoin last jumped 6.9% to move as high as $20,651. The cryptocurrency has gained more than 170% this year, buoyed by demand from larger investors attracted to its potential for quick gains, purported inflation-resistant qualities, and expectations it will become a mainstream payment method.

“The latest run to $20,000 hasn’t been accompanied by nearly the amount of hype as there was back in 2017,” said Paul Hickey, co-founder of Bespoke Investment Group. Bitcoin then garnered more interest from retail investors, but some may now be leery after getting burned, Hickey said.

The Treasury, also on Wednesday, said that through June 2020 both Switzerland and Vietnam had intervened in currency markets to prevent effective balance of payments adjustments. It is not surprising that the Trump administration might make a case about currency manipulation, given recent “runaway appreciation” of the Swissy,

The Swiss Franc was last at 0.8844, with the dollar down 0.12% against the currency on the day. The Swiss government, on Wednesday, said it is open for bilateral talks with the U.S. Treasury about the currency manipulation issue.

Strong euro zone survey figures and hopes of progress on Brexit negotiations pushed the euro above
$1.22 against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday for the first time since April 2018, but later notched
downward. Continue reading “Article: FOREX-Bitcoin breaks $20,000 for first time, Switzerland named currency manipulator”

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Article: Fincrime Briefing: UBS pays to settle laundering probe, U.S., South Korea take down largest crypto-fueled child exploitation site, DOJ guidance on fines when you can’t pay, and more

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Fincrime Briefing: UBS pays to settle laundering probe, U.S., South Korea take down largest crypto-fueled child exploitation site, DOJ guidance on fines when you can’t pay, and more

Brian Monroe, 17 October 2019

UBS pays $11 million to settle Italian money laundering probe, tied to tax fracas An Italian judge has accepted a request by UBS to pay more than 10 million euros ($11 million) to settle a money-laundering investigation, ending one of the Swiss bank’s biggest legal headaches in Europe, just the latest in a series of international probes and settlements tied to financial crime and compliance failures.

UBS has been grappling with two separate probes in Italy and a court case in France over allegations it enabled cross-border tax cheats to hide assets in Switzerland.

The judge on Thursday accepted the payment of 2.125 million euros as “agreed penalty” to close the case while also seizing 8.175 million euros as profit from the alleged money-laundering, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The settlement, which by Italian law is not an admission of guilt, was requested by UBS in July, after a deal with Italian prosecutors. Last June, the Swiss bank paid 101 million euros to settle its other Italian case, a related financial investigation, with tax authorities. Continue reading “Article: Fincrime Briefing: UBS pays to settle laundering probe, U.S., South Korea take down largest crypto-fueled child exploitation site, DOJ guidance on fines when you can’t pay, and more”

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Article: ‘Striking’ Bitcoin Market Manipulation Revealed

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‘Striking’ Bitcoin Market Manipulation Revealed

Billy Bambrough,  25 September 2019

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets are in turmoil tonight after the disappointing launch of the hotly-anticipated Bakkt crypto platform.

The bitcoin price shed 15% of its value this week, with some of its biggest rivals including ethereum, Ripple’s XRP, litecoin, and bitcoin cash, recording losses as high as 22% as investors balked at Bakkt’s low bitcoin trading volume.

Now, new research has warned of a “striking systematic trend” in bitcoin price movements, with bitcoin falling far further than average ahead of CME’s bitcoin futures contracts being settled each month. Continue reading “Article: ‘Striking’ Bitcoin Market Manipulation Revealed”

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Article: Solidus Raises $3 Million in Seed Financing to Tackle Digital Asset Market Manipulation

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Solidus Raises $3 Million in Seed Financing to Tackle Digital Asset Market Manipulation

Business Wire, 25 February 2019

Solidus Labs, provider of a machine learning-powered trade surveillance platform tailored for digital assets, secured a $3 million seed round of financing led by Hanaco Ventures. Additional participants in the round include Global Founders Capital, as well as angel investors and Wall Street veterans David Krell and Norman Sorensen. With the proceeds Solidus’ team of former Goldman Sachs engineers is set to address a major challenge preventing greater institutional and mainstream adoption of digital assets – trade manipulation and market integrity.

Solidus’ web-based platform is already deployed with diverse clients including exchanges, broker-dealers, hedge funds and market makers in Europe, the United States and Israel. The funding round will be used to continue expanding the company’s engineering and machine learning teams, as well as sales, marketing and customer success operations. Solidus is accommodating growing demand from digital asset firms, as those strive to satisfy intensifying regulatory oversight and high compliance standards of traditional financial institutions. Continue reading “Article: Solidus Raises $3 Million in Seed Financing to Tackle Digital Asset Market Manipulation”

THE DOLLAR HAS NO INTRINSIC VALUE : DO YOUR ASSETS?