Today in a Manhattan federal court, Nate Chastain, the former head of product at the leading NFT marketplace OpenSea, was sentenced. Although the formal judgment and sentence has not yet been released to to the public, several media sources report Chastain was sentenced to serve three months in federal prison following his conviction on fraud and money laundering charges in the first ever criminal prosecution of NFT “insider trading”. Ex-OpenSea Executive Nate Chastain Gets 3 Months in Prison for Insider Trading
The DOJ announced yesterday that it has returned an indictment charging the founders of Tornado Cash with money laundering and sanctions violations. DOJ Press Release Two individuals, Roman Storm and Roman Semenov, have been charged with operating Tornado Cash Service, a cryptocurrency mixer, which allegedly laundered more than $1 billion in criminal proceeds. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the unsealing of the indictment, detailing multiple charges against the defendants, including conspiracy to commit money laundering, sanctions violations, and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.
The government’s core allegations against SBF center around his alleged exploitation of funds, which were then funneled for varied purposes such as supporting FTX.com and Alameda Research's operations, making speculative investments, illegal campaign contributions, and personal enrichment.
A recent Motion in Limine filed by the government in advance of SBF’s upcoming trial, confirms that three of the defendant's co-conspirators: Gary Wang, Nishad Singh, and Caroline Ellison, are expected to testify against him. Wang was a co-founder and the Chief Technology Officer of FTX.com, Singh was the Head of Engineering at FTX, and Ellison, who was initially an employee, eventually became the CEO of Alameda. See Caroline Ellison’s list of ‘Things Sam Is Freaking Out About’ could be used in trial
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, more commonly known as FinCEN, has laid out specific guidelines regarding currency transaction reports (CTRs). These guidelines are designed to safeguard the financial industry from potential threats posed by money laundering and other financial crimes. This blog post will help clarify these guidelines and what they mean for you as a customer.
What is a Currency Transaction Report (CTR)?
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently unsealed an indictment charging Shakeeb Ahmed, a senior security engineer at an international technology firm, with wire fraud and money laundering. The charges stem from an attack on a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange (hereafter referred to as the "Crypto Exchange") that resulted in approximately $9 million in stolen cryptocurrency. Crypto Criminal Defense Blog