Lawyers for Sam Bankman-Fried seek to transfer cryptocurrencies from FTX

Lawyers for Sam Bankman-Fried have argued that he should be allowed access to the assets and cryptocurrency held by his former company FTX. Saying that there is no proof that he is responsible for previous alleged unauthorized transactions.

Bankman-Fried, who stepped down as CEO of FTX on November 11, 2022 when the cryptocurrency exchange filed for bankruptcy. He is currently out on bail and faces charges including wire fraud and money laundering, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

As part of her bail conditions, Bankman-Fried was barred from accessing cryptocurrency held by FTX and its trading arm, Alameda Research. After the government will point out illegal transfers made from Alameda’s wallets. The bar includes cryptocurrencies bought with FTX or Alameda funds.

“Almost three weeks have passed since the initial pretrial conference and we assume that the government investigation has confirmed what Mr. Bankman-Fried has said all along. That is, that he did not access or transfer these assets ». Said a January 28 letter from Bankman-Fried’s attorney, Mark Cohen.

Prosecutors are demanding that Sam Bankman-Fried have no communication with his former employees

US prosecutors have requested that the bail condition of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) be tightened. They also want to prevent you from communicating with former employees of their bankrupt companies or from using an encrypted messaging app like Signal.

Prosecutors said SBF contacted current FTX US General Counsel Ryne Miller via Signal and an email on January 15 to “influence” his testimony.

Likewise, prosecutors also want SBF to be prohibited from using Signal or “any encrypted or ephemeral calling or messaging application.” They argued that the FTX founder could use these messaging services to “evade bail restrictions and pretrial supervision.”

SBF previously ordered its employees to “auto-delete” their communications on Signal or Slack after 30 days or less.

According to former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, she suggested that the SBF order was made to make it “more difficult to build a legal case if the information is not written down or preserved.”

Hackers gain access to Azuki’s Twitter account and steal $750,000

Azuki, a popular non-fungible token (NFT) project, had its Twitter account compromised on January 27. Which led to hackers stealing over $750,000 worth of USD Coin.

USDC by posting a malicious link that it claimed was to mint virtual land.

Hackers stole 751,321.80 USDC from a single wallet half an hour after the malicious links were tweeted.

The data also revealed that hackers stole another 6,752.62 USDC tokens from various wallets containing 11 NFTs and more than 3.9 Ether.

Azuki Community Head and Product Manager Dem explained in a Twitter Space hosted by Wallet Guard on Jan. 27 that the scammers were able to “post a wallet drain link.” After gaining control of Azuki’s Twitter account.

New York Assembly introduced a bill on crypto payments for fines and taxes

a bill presented to the New York Assembly on January 26 would allow state agencies to accept cryptocurrency as a form of payment for fines, civil penalties, taxes, fees and other payments collected by the state.

New York State Assembly Bill A523 was introduced by Democratic Assemblyman Clyde Vanel, who is often seen as a pro-crypto politician.

It allows state agencies to enter into “agreements with individuals to provide for acceptance, by state offices, of cryptocurrency as a means of payment” for various types of fees. Including “fines, civil penalties, rents, fees, taxes, fees, charges, income, financial obligations, or other amounts. Including penalties, special assessments, and interest, owed to state agencies.”

The bill does not require state agencies to accept cryptocurrency as payment. But, it clarifies that state agencies can legally agree to accept such payments and that these agreements must be enforced by the courts.

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