Crypto

Class Action Complaint alleging cryptocurrency fraud in Christopher Rackauckas v. SafeMoon LLC, SafeMoon US LLC, SafeMoon Connect LLC, Tano LLC, SafeMoon Ltd., of England; SafeMoon Protocol Ltd., of England; SafeMoon Media Group Ltd., of England; David Portnoy, Braden John Karony, Jack Haines-Davies, Ryan Arriaga, Shaun Witriol, Henry 'Hank' Wyatt, Thomas Smith, Kyle Nagy, Jake Paul, Nick Carter, DeAndre Cortez Way, Ben Phillips, described as a resident of London, England; Miles Parks McCollum, and Daniel M. Keem at the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah.

Class Action Complaint alleging negligence, conversion, and fraud involving a cryptocurrency called GYEN, described as a "stablecoin" that is "purportedly 'pegged' to the Japanese yen at a rate of one-to-one", in Kenneth Donovan and Hussien Kassfy v. GMO-Z.com Trust Company Inc., described as a New York company that was created by "a Tokyo-based internet services industry company" called GMO Internet Group; Coinbase Global Inc., and Coinbase Inc., both of Delaware, at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Forfeiture Complaint in USA v. 40.997711 Ethereum digital currency in an account at Binance cryptocurrency exchange that is believed to be the proceeds of a fraud against the operator of "an investment vehicle which invests in digital currencies, including Ethereum" who had an account at another cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, filed at the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Application for the appointment of a Commissioner to collect evidence from Wells Fargo - pursuant to a request for judicial assistance from Portugal - for use in a criminal investigation into an "unknown subject" for a suspected cryptocurrency-related asset recovery fraud following an apparent cryptocurrency-related investment fraud.

Consent Order imposing a civil penalty of $10 million on Samuel Reed regarding the operation of the BitMEX cryptocurrency trading platform in Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. HDR Global Trading Limited, of the Seychelles; 100x Holdings Limited, of Bermuda; ABS Global Trading Limited, of Delaware; Shine Effort Inc. Limited, of Hong Kong; HDR Global Services (Bermuda) Limited, of Bermuda, all d.b.a. BitMEX; Arthur Hayes, described as a citizen of the United States residing in Hong Kong; Ben Peter Delo, described as a citizen of the United Kingdom residing in Hong Kong, and Samuel Reed, described as a U.S. citizen who resided in Milwaukee, WI, and Boston, MA, during the relevant period, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Consent Order imposing a civil penalty of $10 million on Benjamin Delo regarding the operation of the BitMEX cryptocurrency trading platform in Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. HDR Global Trading Limited, of the Seychelles; 100x Holdings Limited, of Bermuda; ABS Global Trading Limited, of Delaware; Shine Effort Inc. Limited, of Hong Kong; HDR Global Services (Bermuda) Limited, of Bermuda, all d.b.a. BitMEX; Arthur Hayes, described as a citizen of the United States residing in Hong Kong; Ben Peter Delo, described as a citizen of the United Kingdom residing in Hong Kong, and Samuel Reed, described as a U.S. citizen who resided in Milwaukee, WI, and Boston, MA, during the relevant period, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Consent Order imposing a civil penalty of $10 million on Arthur Hayes regarding the operation of the BitMEX cryptocurrency trading platform in Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. HDR Global Trading Limited, of the Seychelles; 100x Holdings Limited, of Bermuda; ABS Global Trading Limited, of Delaware; Shine Effort Inc. Limited, of Hong Kong; HDR Global Services (Bermuda) Limited, of Bermuda, all d.b.a. BitMEX; Arthur Hayes, described as a citizen of the United States residing in Hong Kong; Ben Peter Delo, described as a citizen of the United Kingdom residing in Hong Kong, and Samuel Reed, described as a U.S. citizen who resided in Milwaukee, WI, and Boston, MA, during the relevant period, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Judgment regarding the continuation of a freezing injunction against parties suspected of stealing digital assets in ChainSwap Limited, described as a British Virgin Islands company that "provides a service that allows cryptocurrency tokens to be transferred between different blockchains, known as a cross-chain bridge" v. The Owner of Digital Wallet 0X941A9E3B91E1CC015702B897C512D265FAE88A9, The Owner of Digital Wallet 0XEDA5066780DE29D00DFB54581A707EF6F52D8113, The Owner of Digital Wallet 0XB63F0D8B9AA0C4E68D5630F54BFEFC6CF2C2AD19, The Owner of Digital Wallet 0X196593ADE7CC7EDF18981C7A7DBC2E96000004FB, The Owner of Email Address trumanbroughton@gmail.com, and Other Persons Unknown at the British Virgin Islands High Court.

Arthur Hayes' Sentencing Submission in USA v. Arthur Hayes, who pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act on February 24th, 2022 regarding the operation of the BitMEX cryptocurrency trading platform, of which he was co-founder and CEO, at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint alleging breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, and unjust enrichment regarding "a business venture involving an automated market maker protocol to facilitate token swaps using smart contracts and tokens" called SaucerSwap in Matthew Clark Kramer, of Utah v. Ground Zero Crypto LLC, of Maryland; Peter Campbell, of Maine; Joseph Bergvinson, of Canada; Henry He, of New York; Christopher Neil Davenport, of Maryland, and Matthew DeLorenzo, of North Carolina, at the U. S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

Class Action Complaint alleging negligence regarding the theft by hacking of cryptocurrency worth $55 million in Christian Sarcuni, of Italy; Pedro Cunha, of Portugal; Alexander Lloyd, a citizen of Canada and the United Kingdom; Skliar Viktor, of Ukraine; Marc Simon, of France; Pilici Rustam, of Moldova; Daniel Lu, of China; Clément Ométek, of France; Edison Ho, a citizen of China residing in Hong Kong; Kiro Aleksandrov, of Bulgaria; Jonas Wernecke, of Germany; Paolo Leite, of Brazil; Miras Issakhov, of Kazakhstan, and Daniele Penna, of Italy v. bZx DAO, described as "a purported Decentralized Autonomous Organization that is a general partnership" based in San Diego, California; Kyle Kistner, of San Diego, California; Tom Bean, of Alpharetta, Georgia; Hashed International LLC, of Wyoming; AGE Crypto GP LLC, of Nevada; Ooki DAO, described as "a purported Decentralized Autonomous Organization that is a general partnership" based in San Diego, California; Leveragebox LLC, of Delaware, and bZeroX LLC, of Delaware, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

Criminal Indictment alleging cryptocurrency-based investment fraud and money laundering in USA v. Luiz Capuci, Jr., a.k.a. Junior Capuci, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Amended Class Action Complaint alleging fraud and the sale of unregistered securities in Mark Cassidy v. Voyager Digital Ltd., described as a Canada-domiciled, New York-based "cryptocurrency platform", and Voyager Digital LLC, described as being domiciled in Delaware and based in New Jersey, at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Complaint alleging securities fraud involving digital assets in U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Steven Chiang, a.k.a. Cyrus Kong, described as a resident of Singapore; Eric Tippetts, of Dana Point, California; James Hardy, of San Diego, California; and Maurice 'Butch' Chelliah, of San Diego, California, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

Complaint alleging "the fraudulent and unregistered offer and sale of securities" regarding a cryptocurrency-related investment scheme in U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. David B. Mata at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Complaint alleging "the fraudulent and unregistered offer and sale of securities" regarding a cryptocurrency-related investment scheme in U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Block Bits Capital LLC, Block Bits Capital GP I LLC, and Japheth Dillman at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

A court in Estonia is seeking evidence from a crypto wallet provider in the United States for a fraud investigation into bankrupt crowdfunding platform Envestio SI OÜ, which allegedly stole investors' funds before being declared bankrupt on June 3rd, 2020, and its former CEO, Anton Kaletin.

Ex Parte application on behalf of the Harju County Court of Tallinn, Estonia to take discovery from Payward Inc., described as "a virtual currency wallet service provider", for use in bankruptcy proceedings against Envestio SI OÜ and involving suspected fraud, filed at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Criminal Complaint alleging the defendant "obtained money and cryptocurrency from individuals and businesses for the purchase of cryptocurrency-mining computers and Miner-hosting services through false and fraudulent representations regarding Stojanovich's acquisition and possession of Miners and his provision of Miner-hosting services" in USA v. Chet Stojanovich at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Motion for Temporary Restraining Order regarding an alleged cryptocurrency-based investment fraud in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. MCC International Corp., d.b.a. Mining Capital Coin Corp., of Massachusetts; CPTLCoin Corp., of Massachusetts; Bitchain Exchanges, described as "an unincorporated organization or association"; Luiz Carlos Capuci Jr., a.k.a. Junior Caputti, described as a citizen of Brazil and the USA residing in Port St. Lucie, Florida, and Emerson Sousa Pires, described as a citizen and resident of Brazil, at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Complaint alleging a cryptocurrency-based investment fraud in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. MCC International Corp., d.b.a. Mining Capital Coin Corp., of Massachusetts; CPTLCoin Corp., of Massachusetts; Bitchain Exchanges, described as "an unincorporated organization or association"; Luiz Carlos Capuci Jr., a.k.a. Junior Caputti, described as a citizen of Brazil and the USA residing in Port St. Lucie, Florida, and Emerson Sousa Pires, described as a citizen and resident of Brazil, at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Public Notice by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority that it has appointed a "Mandated Investigator" for Dohrnii Stiftung, which claims on its website at dohrnii.io to be "a digital ecosystem" that offers "education and tools" for investors in cryptocurrency.

Complaint objecting to discharge of debt involving an alleged cryptocurrency-based fraud in tZERO Crypto Inc., of Utah v. Brett Buckman, of Bel Air, Maryland, at the U. S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

Superseding Indictment alleging the defendants "conspired with Virgil Griffith, a cryptocurrency expert and citizen of the United States, to illegally provide cryptocurrency and blockchain technology services to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, in contravention of U.S. sanctions on the DPRK" in USA v. Alejandro Cao de Benós, a citizen of Spains, and Christopher Emms, a citizen of the United Kingdom, at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Complaint alleging fraud in G Esports Holding GmbH, d.b.a., G2 Esports, of Germany, described as "one of the world's leading esports' organizations, with a high-profile roster of esports teams and content creators" v. BDVL OÜ, of Estonia, d.b.a. Bondly Sports, described as "a company utilizing blockchain technologies for the development of non-fungible tokens", at the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles.

Complaint alleging "a fraudulent scheme that sought to, and ultimately did, steal $488,000.00 worth of cryptocurrency from Plaintiff" in Ulises Fernandez Miro v. John Doe and Binance Holdings Ltd., of the Cayman Islands, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Corporate Report for Dreamr Labs Ltd., obtained from the Bahamas Corporate Registry on March 13th, 2022.

Bahamas-based blockchain firm Delchain and four others, including Deltec Bank & Trust in the Bahamas and Suisse Finance in Switzerland, are being sued for $20 million in damages after the price of a digital token issued by fellow Bahamas firm Dreamr "crashed 93%" within three months of being listed on the Bittrex crypto exchange.

Complaint for $20 million alleging fraud and breach of contract involving crypto in Dreamr Labs Limited, of the Bahamas v. Delchain Limited, of the Bahamas; Deltec Bank & Trust Limited, of the Bahamas; Bruno Macchialli, of Porte Vedra, Florida; Suisse Finance Holdings, of Switzerland, and Richard Iamunno, of Boca Raton, Florida, at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Notice of Removal by the defendants in Athena Bitcoin Global, described as a Nevada-domiciled, Chicago-based company which "has been operating in the Republic of El Salvador assisting the government with the implementation of "Ley Bitcoin" which legalized bitcoin as legal tender" v. Shaun Overton, Neidy Overton, ROI Developers Inc., d.b.a. Accruvia; and unknown individuals and companies at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Complaint alleging fraud in Green Sands Investment Club B LLC, of Delaware v. Green Sands Investment Club B LLC, of Delaware, described as a "cryptocurrency hedge fund" with an affiliate in the Cayman Islands, and Jonas Lauren Norr at the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Alameda.

Complaint alleging a crypto-based investment fraud in Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Dwayne Golden, Jatin Patel, described as a citizen and resident of India; Marquis Demarking Egerton, a.k.a. Mardy Eger, and Gregory Aggesen at the U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Forfeiture Complaint for the alleged proceeds of narcotics trafficking in USA v. "All Bitcoin" owned by Ka Tsz Yip at LocalBitcoins, described as a cryptocurrency exchange in Finland, filed at the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

More than 20,000 investors were swindled out of "at least $124 million" in crypto-based investment and multi-level marketing scams known as 'Ormeus Coin' and 'Ormeus Global' that were operated by siblings John and Tina Barksdale and involved entities in Hong Kong and Panama, it has been alleged in criminal and regulatory actions.

Complaint alleging the defendants "raised at least $124 million from over 20,000 investors" in a crypto-based fraudulent scheme involving Ormeus Global SA, of Panama, and Ormeus Coin, of Hong Kong, in U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. John Barksdale, described as a citizen of the USA residing in Thailand, and his sister, JonAtina Barksdale, a.k.a. Tina Barksdale, described as a citizen of the USA residing in Hong Kong, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Class Action Complaint alleging a cryptocurrency-based investment fraud in Kayla Blacksher v. SafeMoon LLC, SafeMoon US LLC, SafeMoon Connect LLC, Tano LLC, SafeMoon Ltd., of England; SafeMoon Protocol Ltd., of England; SafeMoon Media Group Ltd., of England; Braden John Karony, Jack Haines-Davies, of London, England; Ryan Arriaga, Shaun Witriol, Henry 'Hank' Wyatt, Thomas Smith, Kyle Nagy, Jake Paul, Nick Carter, DeAndre Cortez Way, Ben Phillips, Miles Parks McCollum, and Daniel M. Keem at the U. S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Public Statement by the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority regarding "recent statements made by EQONEX Limited and the Binance Group confirming that an entity called Bifinity will advance a US$36 million convertible loan to EQONEX".

Judgment regarding applications for a worldwide freezing injunction, disclosure orders, and to join defendants in "an action to trace and recover 109.83 Bitcoin and 1497.54 Ethereum that were allegedly misappropriated" in a scheme that, inter alia, involved entities in the Cayman Islands and the Seychelles and which "raised two interesting and novel points of law. First, can stolen cryptocurrency assets be the subject of a proprietary injunction? Second, does the court have jurisdiction to grant interim orders against persons whose identities are presently unknown?" in CLM, an unidentified "national of the United States of America and an entrepreneur" v. CLN, CLO, CLP, CPZ, CQA, CQB, and CQC at Singapore High Court.

Complaint alleging breach of contract and failure to pay wages in Michelle Tsing and Elevate The Blockchain Inc., of Delaware v. Plasmotica LLC, of California; Synsal Inc., of the Cayman Islands, and Ned Saleh, who collectively "operated a business wherein they sought to enter the cryptocurrency industry and to develop their own cryptocurrency", at the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Santa Clara.

Class Action Complaint alleging the sale of unregistered securities in John Mangano v. BlockFi Inc., described as "a financial services company that generates revenue through cryptocurrency trading, lending, and borrowing, as well as engaging in proprietary trading"; BlockFi, BlockFi Trading LLC, and BlockFi Lending LLC at the U. S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

First Superseding Indictment alleging violations of the Bank Secrecy Act involving a cryptocurrency exchange known as BitMEX, of the Seychelles, in USA v. Samuel Reed at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Criminal Indictment alleging a $2.4 billion investment fraud and money laundering scheme involving BitConnect, which "operated a cryptocurrency investment platform and touted its various investment programs through social media", in USA v. Satish Kurjibhai Kumbhani, described as a citizen of India, at the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

Complaint in Conyers Dill & Pearman, a Bermuda law firm v. Velocity Ledger Technology Inc. at the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of Kings.

Public Notice by the Malta Financial Services Authority that it has rejected an application from NMVA Limited to be licensed under the Virtual Financial Assets Act.

Complaint for damages of $670,000 alleging conversion, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and negligence involving the alleged theft of cryptocurrency known as EOS in Ephraim Atawl v. iFinex Inc. , BXNA Inc., and BFXWW Inc., all described as British Virgin Islands companies based in Hong Kong that operate "Bitfinex, an online platform for exchanging and trading cryptocurrency", at the U. S. District Court for the Western District of New York.

Administrative Order by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it has imposed a fine of $50 million on BlockFi Lending LLC, a New Jersey-based crypto lender, for regulatory breaches, including "material misrepresentation" and operating as "an Unregistered Investment Company".

Order Staying Release of Defendants in USA v. Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan at the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Motion for Emergency Stay and Review of Release Order in USA v. Ilya Lichtenstein, a dual citizen of Russia and USA, and Heather Morgan at the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

A New York couple - Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, and his wife, Heather Morgan, 31 - have been arrested and charged in the United States with conspiring to launder Bitcoin now worth $4.5 billion that was allegedly stolen in a 2016 hack of the British Virgin Islands-owned cryptocurrency exchange known as Bitfinex.

Complaint "to regain possession of certain computer equipment–worth more than $4.7 million" in EZ Blockchain LLC, described as a Delaware-domiciled, Chicago-based provider of "mobile blockchain infrastructure" whose "two members are Sergii Gerasymovych and Vlad Rodinoff" v. Blaise Energy Power Inc. and Mark Wald at the U. S. District Court for the District of North Dakota.