Investigation
SEC issues subpoena to influencers promoting HEX, PulseChain and PulseX
Over several years, social media influencers have earned a bad rep among regulators for shilling risky and unvetted tokens to millions of investors. Pursuing the crackdown on such scenarios, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reportedly issued a subpoena to influencers who were found promoting cryptocurrencies such as HEX, PulseChain and PulseX. Swedish researcher Eric Wall shared an official letter from the SEC dated Nov. 1, which was addressed to influencers. It read: “We believe that you may possess documents and data that are relevant to an ongoing investigation being conducted by the staff of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.” The letter was accompanied by a subpoena that was issued as part of the investigation, which demanded the influencers in ques...
DJ Tim Westwood Misconduct Case Assigned Independent Barrister
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: David M. Benett / Getty The accusations against Tim Westwood are about to be taken to a high court. An independent barrister has been assigned to investigate his misconduct case. As per Dead Line the accusations against the former BBC talent are going to get a formal looking at by a professional. Gemma White QC of Linklaters will lead an extensive report into the several accusations stemming from the documentary Tim Westwood: Abuse of Power. In the film he was accused by seven women of sexual misconduct, including predatory and unwanted sexual behavior and touching, in incidents between 1992 and 2017. “New allegations and issues are emerging as time passes and more people are prepared to come forward,” said Nick Serota, the BBC Board’s Seni...
South Korea ramps up crypto investigations and regulations
On Friday, June 3, South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) began an investigation into payment gateway services that work with digital assets. The FSS is South Korea’s financial regulator that operates under the Financial Services Commission (FSC), both of which are government institutions. As reported by local news outlet Money Today Co., the FSS had recently demanded reports from 157 payment gateways about any service related to crypto, their plans for the future, and disclosure of digital assets. But an FSS report stated that only 6 held any digital assets. Related: How Terra’s collapse will impact future stablecoin regulations Although the FSS is currently the primary financial regulator, on May 31st, 2022, South Korea announced the upcoming launch of the Digital Assets Commi...
BlockFi confirms unauthorized access to client data hosted on Hubspot
New Jersey-based crypto financial institution BlockFi confirmed a data breach incident via one of its third-party vendors, Hubspot. BlockFi’s proactive warning about the breach aims to deter the intentions of bad actors in repurposing the user data for fraudulent activities. According to the announcement, the hackers gained access to BlockFi’s client data on Friday, March 18, that were stored on Hubspot, a client relationship management platform: “Hubspot has confirmed that an unauthorized third-party gained access to certain BlockFi client data housed on their platform.” As a third-party vendor for BlockFi, Hubspot stored user data such as names, email addresses and phone numbers. Historically, bad actors have used such information for conducting phishing attacks and gaining access to acc...
Blockchain forensics is the trusted informant in crypto crime scene investigation
The seizure by the U.S. Department of Justice of $3.6 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) lost during the 2016 hack of Bitfinex’s cryptocurrency exchange has all the ingredients of a Hollywood film — eye-popping sums, colorful protagonists and crypto cloak-and-dagger — so much so that Netflix has already commissioned a docuseries. But, who are the unsung heroes in this action-packed thriller? Federal investigators from multiple agencies including the new National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team have painstakingly followed the money trail to assemble the case. The Feds also seized the Colonial Pipeline ransoms paid in crypto, making headlines last year. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seized $3.5 billion worth of crypto in 2021 in non-tax investigations, according to the recently releas...
Reuters: Binance was withholding information from regulators, repeatedly shunned own compliance department
In a report published on Friday, Reuters laid out the findings of its investigation into the regulatory compliance practices of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume. The authors suggest the existence of a recurring pattern whereby the company’s CEO Changpeng Zhao, while proclaiming its openness to government oversight, ran an organization that systematically denied regulators’ requests for financial and corporate structure information and shirked proper client background checks. The reported findings are based on the accounts of Binance’s former senior employees and advisers, as well as the review of documents such as internal correspondence and confidential messages between several national regulators and the company. According to the document, several hi...
Human Remains From 1982 Revealed To Be O’Jays Songwriter & Guitarist Frank Little Jr.
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Peter Dazeley / Getty The remains of a man discovered almost 40 years ago stood as a mystery but the identity was recently revealed. The remains of Frank Little Jr., who was affiliated with The O’Jays, were positively identified via DNA and other research, giving the family a small measure of closure. Local outlet Akron Beacon Journal reports that Little’s identity was uncovered with the help of investigators after the remains were first discovered in February 1982 in Twinsburg, Ohio, a city nestled between Akron and Cleveland. In the 1960s, Little worked alongside the legendary R&B band The O’Jays as a songwriter and backing guitarist. Previous attempts to link an identity to the remains found in a garbage bag behind a Twinsburg machine shop were fru...
Family Of Steve ‘Zumbi’ Gaines Launches Investigation Regarding Death Of Bay Area Star
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Miikka Skaffari / Getty The Hip-Hop world is still reeling from the news that Baba Zumbi, also known as Zumbi of Zion I fame, has died. Now, the family of the artist born Steve Gaines has hired legal representation and is launching an investigation into the mysterious circumstances of Zumbi’s unfortunate passing. By way of a new press release, Hip-Hop Wired has learned that the family of Zumbi has hired Elizabeth Grossman of Law Offices of Elizabeth Grossman, and Lyn Agre of Glenn Agre Bergman & Fuentes LLP to dig further into the details of his passing. Earlier reports suggested that Zumbi died of COVID-19 complications but the family believes that something is amiss and is demanding answers. “We believe there are witnesses who know firsthand the fac...
UK police seize $249.5 million worth of cryptocurrency
The British police on Tuesday said they have seized £180 million ($249.5 million) of an undisclosed cryptocurrency, as part of a money laundering investigation launched against organised crime groups that moved into cryptocurrencies in order to clean their money. The latest seizure happened in less than three weeks after the London police made a £114 million haul on June 24 as part of its money laundering investigation. By this, a cryptocurrency payload totalling £294 million ($408 million) has been reportedly seized so far under the money laundering investigation. “While cash still remains king in the criminal world, as digital platforms develop we’re increasingly seeing organised criminals using cryptocurrency to launder their dirty money,” Reuters quoted Graham McNulty, a metropolitan P...
White House does not rule out Haiti request for U.S. troops
The United States is still reviewing a request for troops made by Haiti’s interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph to help secure key infrastructure after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Monday. Psaki said Haiti’s political leadership remains unclear and that it was vital for the country’s leaders to come together to chart a united path forward. Moise was shot dead early on Wednesday at his Port-au-Prince home by what Haitian authorities describe as a unit of assassins formed of 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans. Haitian police said on Sunday they had arrested another key suspect. The death of the president has plunged the troubled country into deeper turmoil, and U.S. officials traveled there on Sunday to assess the situation and ...
Leaked testimony from Haiti suspects says plan was to arrest, not kill president
A group of Colombians and Haitian Americans suspected of assassinating Haitian President Jovenel Moise told investigators they were there to arrest him, not kill him, the Miami Herald and a person familiar with the matter said on Sunday. Moise was shot dead early on Wednesday at his Port-au-Prince home by what Haitian authorities say was a unit of assassins made up of 26 Colombians and two Haitian Americans, plunging the troubled Caribbean nation into deeper turmoil. The murder and uncertainty about who hatched the plot is the latest in a succession of blows to hit the struggling country, which has appealed for international help. Washington has so far rebuffed Haiti’s request for troops, though a senior U.S. official said on Sunday that Washington was sending a technical team to assess th...
Majority of Brazilians support impeaching President Bolsonaro, poll shows
For the first time, a majority of Brazilians support impeaching President Jair Bolsonaro, according to a poll released on Saturday, as serious graft allegations related to vaccine procurement hit the right-wing leader’s already battered image. According to the survey by Datafolha, 54% of Brazilians support a proposed move by the country’s lower house to open impeachment proceedings against Bolsonaro, while 42% oppose it. In the last Datafolha survey on the issue, released in May, supporters and opponents of impeachment were essentially tied. In a separate Datafolha poll, released on Thursday, 51% of Brazilians said they disapproved of Bolsonaro, the highest figure since he took office in January 2019. In recent weeks, Brasilia has been rocked by allegations that federal officials solicited...
