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Breaking: European Court Of Justice Approves German Trial Against Gal Barak
Israeli cybercrime mastermind Gal Barak was sentenced in Vienna in September 2020 to four years imprisonment for investment fraud and money laundering. In 2021, Gal Barak was to be extradited from the Austrian prison to Germany because he was also to be charged there. His lawyer has appealed against this, invoking the principle of ne bis in idem. Today, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled that Gal Barak can be charged in Germany.
Latest Updates
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Montenegro Interior Minister Announced Arrest Of Terra-Luna Founder Do Kwon!
Do Kwon, the co-founder of the failed TerraUSD stablecoin, has been arrested in Montenegro after months of hiding, Montenegro Interior Minister Filip Adzic said on Twitter. The suspect was detained in the airport of the country’s capital of Podgorica with false documents. In September, South Korean authorities issued a warrant for Kwon’s arrest in September. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating the collapse of TerraUSD, WSJ reports.
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Coinbase Share Price Crashed After SEC Warning; Bitcoin And Ether Unimpressed!
The announcement of an enforcement action by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Coinbase today sent the stock price down by nearly 20% at the start of trading. Coinbase management had tried to explain and reassure on Twitter. However, that didn't help for the time being. The possible qualification of certain assets and offerings as securities could actually shatter the Coinbase business and revenue model (report here).
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Short Seller Attack On Block: Allegations Of Inflated User Metrics and “Frictionless” Fraud Facilitation!
Block (previouslySquare) is an NYSE-listed $44 billion market cap company established and controlled by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. After a two-year investigation, short-seller Hindenburg Research..
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U.S. Crypto Exchange Coinbase Faces Existential Regulatory Issues!
Coinbase, a public-listed U.S. crypto exchange, has troubles with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has threatened to sue Coinbase over some of the crypto exchange's products. The regulator gave Coinbase a Wells notice, typically one of the final steps before the SEC formally issues charges. The SEC qualifies some of the company's assets and services as securities, including its staking services.
Payment Processors
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What Happened With The Vanished Crypto Payment Processor Finanic?
Finanic, a payment processor in Estonia with a crypto license from the FIU, has been involved as a payment facilitator in numerous broker scams. Now Finanic OÜ, founded by Latvian Arturs Eglitis, has been deleted. Already in June 2022, the license was archived, and liquidation was announced. Finanic Ltd, which is registered in the UK, is still active. The website www.finanic.io also vanished. We would like to know more about the disappeared payment processor and their operators.
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Attention! The Many Victims Of The CTMatador Broker Scam!
FinTelegram has already issued many warnings about the super-aggressive broker scam CTMatador. The last one was in November 2022. Standard payment options have been disabled for some time now. It seems that CTMatador is preparing to vanish, but victims continue to report their losses. Most recently, many victims may have made crypto deposits to CTMatador and lost them. The boiler rooms behind the scam are still active. If you have lost money, please get in touch with us!
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Another Urgent Warning Against Offshore Brokers SpotInvest And BBanc!
FinTelegram has warned several times against the offshore broker scams SpotInvest and BBanc. However, they are still chasing victims. In the past, both scams were operated through Primis LLC, which is registered in St. Vincent & The Grenadines. Various financial market regulators and FinTelegram issue some warnings. Since then, the websites of SpotInvest and BBanc stated the fake companies SpotInvest Inc. and BBanc Inc., respectively, as the operators. Stay far away and do not lose money; protect your financial health.
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Investor Warning Against Broker Scam Fuelta!
Today we received an email welcoming us as a new client of Fuelta broker. The trading account was already opened, we were told. Strange, because we have never registered with Fuelta. This is just one of the countless white-label scams that disappear after a few weeks and are replaced by a new scam brand. The customer data is used and abused again and again. Stay far away.
Cybercrime Court Cases
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OneCoin Case: Indictment Against Irina Dilkinska
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the unsealing of charges against the Bulgarian national Irina Dilkinska for participating in the massive OneCoin fraud scheme. OneCoin began operations in 2014 and was based in Sofia, Bulgaria. It marketed and sold the fraudulent cryptocurrency by the same name through an MLM network. Victims invested over $4 billion worldwide in the fraudulent cryptocurrency. Dilkinska was extradited from Bulgaria.
Regulatory Updates
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Wirecard Legacy: Payabl Versus NomuPay Or How To Grow A Payment Business!
NomuPay, founded and financed by Finch Capital, acquired some companies from the collapsed Wirecard in 2021. Among them also Wirecard Turkey. Payabl was founded in 2011 by Wirecard executives Ruediger Trautmann and Dietmar Knoechelmann and operated as PowerCash21 until 2022. While we see hardly any growth at NomuPay, Payabl, deploying the Wirecard business model with porn, gambling, and online investment merchants, is experiencing explosive growth.
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SEC Charges BitTorrent Founder And Celebrities For Security Violations!
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced charges against crypto asset entrepreneur Justin Sun and three of his companies, Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Ltd., and Rainberry Inc. (formerly BitTorrent), for the unregistered offer and sale of crypto asset securities Tronix (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT). The SEC also charged them with secondary market manipulation through extensive washing. Lindsay Lohan and other celebrities have been charged for touting TRX and BTT.
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Crypto Investment Scheme OASIS Assets Received Orange Compliance Rating!
OASIS Assets is a crypto exchange and investment scheme offering investors various plans for guaranteed returns. For a 120-day investment of GBP 250,000, 45% is promised. The scheme is operated through legal entities in the UK, Australia, Singapore, and Switzerland. The scheme does not appear to have a license to offer financial products. There is no scam alert on OASIS Assets, but we have given the scheme a Red Compliance rating. Be cautious accordingly.
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