Chinese police may have busted Multichain in a money laundering investigation, but many questions remain, including its CEO’s alleged fake ID.
Tragedy or rug-pull? Inside the collapse of a ‘charitable’ NFT project
Orica NFT’s charity efforts have succeeded, but its token holders have not, and up until now, its co-founder was nowhere to be found.
SEC freezes assets of DEBT Box, alleging $50M node license ‘sham’
Blockchain mining software firm DEBT Box has been accused of lying to investors about its involvement in crypto mining and its “node licenses.”
CFTC charges Tennessee couple over ‘Blessings of God Thru Crypto’ scheme
Despite having no trading experience a Tennessee couple convinced 100 people to hand over their money for a uniquely named crypto investment pool.
Crypto lender Geist Finance shuts down permanently over Multichain hack
The $29 million TVL lending platform is shutting down because its oracles are misreporting Multichain token values after the exploit.
Multichain Executor has been ‘draining’ AnySwap tokens: Report
The contract has used an “anySwapFeeTo” function to transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of tokens to itself, which on-chain sleuth Spreek suspected may have been malicious.
DOJ Charges Moroccan Man With Stealing $450K in OpenSea Spoofing Scam
Revoke adds new feature after users complain of fake approvals scam
Scammers have found a new way to make crypto by luring users into revoking fake approval transactions.
Chibi Finance $1M alleged rug pull: How it happened
The exploiter used a “panic” function buried within eight different smart contracts to remove $1 million worth of users’ funds without their permission.
CFTC Takes Action Against New York Resident for $21M Crypto Pooling Scam
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed an enforcement action against a New York city resident, William Koo Ichioka, for fraudulently misappropriating over $21 million from over 100 commodity pool participants’ funds.
Major Australian bank to decline ‘certain’ payments to crypto exchanges
Commonwealth Bank executive James Roberts cited a huge scale of “investment scams” involving crypto exchanges.
From cricket to crypto: AB de Villiers ventures into Web3
South African cricket icon AB de Villiers trades his bat for Web3 as he discusses his love affair with NFTs and a partnership with a novel Ethereum-based investment platform.
The Sandbox CEO’s Twitter was hacked, used to promote alleged ‘airdrop’ scam
The executive appears to have now recovered his account.
DeFi protocol WDZD Swap exploited for $1.1M: CertiK
The reported attacker is a known exploiter, labeled ‘Fake_Phishing750’ by BscScan.
Woman Loses $8 Million In Crypto Scam, But Court Says Binance Is Not Liable
A United States District Judge, Amos Mazzant, has ruled that Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by client count, is not liable for the loss incurred by a Texan woman named Divya Gadasalli who lost $8 million in a pig butchering scheme.
Binance Is Not Liable
In a ruling on May 22, Judge Amos dismissed the lawsuit that Gadasalli had brought forward in which she claimed that Binance aided the scammer steal $8 million in a scheme hatched on Tinder, a dating app.
Binance filed for the case to be dismissed at the United States Easter District Court of Texas, saying the plaintiff had failed to state a claim. Moreover, Binance lawyers say there was a lack of personal jurisdiction and this request was made in June 2022.
The ruling on May 22, Judge Amos said, complied with Federal rules that require a court to dismiss a claim should there be no personal jurisdiction over the defendant, in this case, Binance.
In law, personal jurisdiction empowers the court to hear a case, regardless of the subject matter. And afterward, they can make a ruling.
Despite Binance’s position that there is no personal jurisdiction, Gadasalli’s lawyers wanted the court to investigate the relationship between Binance and Binance US.
Court filings show that Gadasalli had been scammed off $8 million after being “promised romance and financial prosperity” in a pig butchering scam.
In a pig butchering scam, the victim engages in a well-orchestrated fraud where romance is used as bait for active investment in non-existent cryptocurrency schemes. Court data shows that the fraudulent scheme was devised by three defendants, Jerry Bulasa, Dong Lian, and Danyun Lin.
Gadasalli met Bulasa on Tinder and believed she had struck a romantic connection. Eventually, the victim ended up “investing in the direction of Bulasa,” whom she thought was a “successful cryptocurrency investor.”
Bulasa later informed Gadasalli that their crypto investment stood at $10 million, but she couldn’t withdraw any assets. This frustration and realization that she was down $8 million made her file a lawsuit against Bulasa and Binance.
Lawsuits And Investigations, BNB Firm
Binance has been a target of United States regulators in recent months. In March, the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sued the exchange for allegedly operating a derivatives trading platform without registration, violating existing trading laws.
Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reportedly investigating whether the exchange violates securities law. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is also investigating possible tax evasion claims.
Still, BNB, the native currency of the Binance ecosystem, is steady when writing. Although it is under pressure, the coin is trading above $300 and bullish, aligning with gains from March 2023. And BNB is currently up 15% from March 2023 lows.
Binance off the hook from $8M Tinder ‘pig butchering’ lawsuit
The plaintiff, a Texan woman, initially blamed Binance for losing $8 million in a pig butchering scam that began on Tinder.
‘Inferno Drainer’ scam as a service has stolen $5.9M since March: Report
The service provides code to scammers that allows them to drain wallets using token approval phishing methods
‘WallStreetBets’ Themed Tokens Plummets 90% as Insider Dumps Treasury Holdings
WSB prices fell sharply as the apparent token sale by insiders led to token holders dumping holdings en masse.
Soulja Boy Has Reportedly Been Cranking Out Promotions for Scam NFT Projects
Research done by internet sleuth ZachXBT indicates that the “Crank That” rapper has promoted dozens of NFT projects on social media, some of which turned out to be rug pulls.
SEC accuses Utah firm of ‘fraudulent’ $18M crypto mining scheme
The SEC said Green United’s operation was a fraud and the community was quick to quell fears of the SEC classing crypto mining as a security in the suit.