Binance founder should be jailed for 36 months, US prosecutors say

April 24, 2024 Coin Telegraph

SafeMoon CEO bail release goes on hold after Feds cite flight risk

November 10, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Arrested

Prosecutors argued SafeMoon CEO Braden John Karony poses a flight risk given his alleged access to funds and overseas connections.

United States federal prosecutors have managed to put SafeMoon CEO Braden John Karony’s bail release order on hold, citing flight risk and his release being a possible “danger to the community.

On Nov. 9, New York District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall stayed a Nov. 8 bail release order after prosecutors challenged a Utah Magistrate judge’s decision to let Karony out on a $500,000 bail.

Prosecutors made the challenge to Judge Daphne Oberg’s decision in New York, saying the release order was given “without consideration of the defendant’s substantial financial means and ability to flee” and added his release posed a “continued danger to the community.”

“If convicted, the defendant faces a statutory maximum of 45 years’ imprisonment,” prosecutors wrote.

“These facts all provide powerful incentives for the defendant to leverage his substantial (and opaque) financial assets and foreign ties to avoid that outcome.”

Judge Oberg’s Nov. 8 order would have permitted Karony to stay at his Miami apartment and barred him from accessing crypto exchanges or wallets, holding or transacting crypto and banned him from engaging in promotional activities.

Prosecutors however claimed the Utah court overlooked Karony’s assets when setting his bail at $500,000. They alleged the SafeMoon chief provided “almost no information concerning his finances” and claimed he can access “assets totaling millions of dollars.”

Karony also has “substantial and ever-expanding” overseas ties and has spent months outside the U.S. in Europe and the United Kingdom with his fiancée, a British citizen and resident, prosecutors alleged.

Prosecutors also asked the court to transport Karony to New York and have him detained there which Judge Hall will consider at a later date.

Karony was arrested on Oct. 31 at Salt Lake City International Airport and was charged alongside SafeMoon creator Kyle Nagy and chief technology officer Thomas Smith with conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.

The Securities and Exchange Commission also charged the trio with various fraud charges and unregistered securities sales and alleged they misappropriated funds to purchase SafeMoon (SFM) tokens to prop up its price.

SafeMoon technology chief Thomas Smith was released on a $500,000 bond on Nov. 3 and is pursuing a plea deal while the Department of Justice said Nagy remains at large.

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FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried prosecutors submit proposed jury instructions for trial

August 22, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Ahead of FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s October trial, government prosecutors have laid out their requests for how the jury should be directed.

United States prosecutors have put forward their proposed instructions to the jury ahead of the October trial for FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

The lengthy 100-page Aug. 21 filing breaks down how prosecutors would like presiding Judge Lewis Kaplan to instruct the jury in Bankman-Fried’s case based on previous jury instructions the New York District judge has given in other cases.

Each of the seven charges Bankman-Fried faces — relating to fraud and money laundering conspiracy along with wire, commodities and securities fraud — were broken down.

For each charge, prosecutors suggested how Judge Kaplan should present the allegations, the burden of proof or elements the jury needs to find Bankman-Fried guilty, and the evidence relating to each charge.

*In total, prosecutors had 69 requests for instructing the jury in Bankman-Fried’s trial. Source: CourtListener*

Also included were proposed instructions for detailing how the jury should examine the evidence, deliberate and come to a conclusion on whether or not to find Bankman-Fried guilty on each count.

Such proposals are typical in criminal trials but ultimately Judge Kaplan will decide how he will instruct the jury.

The former FTX chief has been jailed ahead of his trial set to begin on Oct. 2 and faces another trial in March 2024 on five other counts — he has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Bankman-Fried is being held at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center after Judge Kaplan revoked his bail on Aug. 11 after prosecutors alleged he leaked diary entries from former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison to The New York Times.

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Ex-FTX exec Salame won’t testify in alleged illegal campaign donation case

August 15, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Ryan Salame plans to plead the Fifth if he is asked to testify at Sam Bankman-Fried's criminal trial, according to United States prosecutors.

Former FTX executive Ryan Salame will reportedly avoid testifying about his role in FTX’s alleged illegal campaign donation scheme if he is subpoenaed in Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial.

Lawyers representing the former FTX co-CEO said that Salame will be unavailable as a witness to the case, according to an Aug. 14 motion filed by United States federal prosecutors.

“Salame’s attorney has represented that if subpoenaed, Salame would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination,” the prosecutor’s motion states, adding that Salame would be “unavailable as a witness.”

From the US government's motion in limine in the Sam Bankman-Fried criminal trial: "[Ryan] Salame is unavailable as a witness... Salame’s attorney has represented that if subpoenaed, Salame would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination." pic.twitter.com/NrB5d6PJDH
— Molly White (@molly0xFFF) August 15, 2023

Salame, a former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets with close ties to Sam Bankman-Fried, donated more than $24 million to Republican campaigns, according to Open Secrets.

The former FTX executive is reportedly facing possible finance campaign violation allegations of his own and is considering a plea deal with the federal prosecutors.

He was a substantial beneficiary of loans and payments given to a number of the top executives of FTX by way of the now-bankrupt firms’ trading house Alameda Research.

Salame had his house searched by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation in April. However it remains unknown what exactly they were looking for.

He was considered a close business partner of Bankman-Fried, who is currently imprisoned and is facing fraud charges in his upcoming trial in October.

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FBI searched Kraken co-founder’s home in March: Report

July 7, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Electronic devices were seized from former Kraken CEO Jesse Powell’s Los Angeles home in connection to a non-crypto-related investigation into alleged hacking and cyberstalking.

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) reportedly searched the home of Kraken co-founder Jesse Powell in March as part of an investigation into claims he hacked and cyber-stalked a nonprofit arts group.

It is claimed that Powell interfered with computer accounts by blocking access to emails and other messages from contributors of Verge Center for the Arts — the non-profit Powell founded, according to a July 6 report from The New York Times, citing three people with knowledge on that matter.

The F.B.I. searched the home of the cryptocurrency executive Jesse Powell in March. https://t.co/NRnK99cts7
— NYT Business (@nytimesbusiness) July 6, 2023

The trio informed The NYT that the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California has been investigating Powell since “at least” September.

Electronic devices were reportedly seized from Powell’s home in Brentwood, Los Angeles as part of the search. However, it is understood that prosecutors have not accused Powell of any crimes.

Powell’s lawyer, Brandon Fox said the investigation mostly focused on allegations made by Verge Center for the Arts — the nonprofit Powell founded, and not anything to do with Powell’s involvement in the “cryptocurrency arena.” This was reportedly also confirmed by a Kraken spokesperson.

Fox also said that Powell “did nothing wrong.”

*An inside view of Verge Center for the Arts, which was founded by Powell. Source: Verge Center for the Arts*

Cointelegraph reached out to Jesse Powell for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

Powell reportedly founded the Sacramento-based arts group in 2007. However, his LinkedIn states that he’s worked as the founder and board member since April 2010.

Kraken remains the second largest United States-based cryptocurrency exchange behind Coinbase, according to CoinMarketCap.

Kraken was hit with enforcement action by the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission in February for failing to register the offer and sale of their staking service program.

The firm reached a settlement with the securities regulator, paying a lofty $30 million fine.

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