Bankrupt crypto company FTX has filed a lawsuit against Binance and its CEO Changpen Zhao, seeking to recover $1.76 billion.
According to FTX, these funds were fraudulently transferred during a share buyback transaction in 2021. The lawsuit alleges that FTX transferred this amount to FTT, BNB and BUSD as part of the buyback of Binance’s 20% stake in FTX, originally acquired in 2019.
At the time of that buyback , FTX’s sister company, Alameda Research, was allegedly in bankruptcy, using $1 billion of FTX depositors’ funds to complete the deal, as former Alameda CEO Carolyn Ellison testified.
The lawsuit also accuses Zhao of prompting the market decline by tweeting about Binance’s plans to sell its stake in FTT in November 2022, which triggered massive withdrawals and ultimately led to FTX’s collapse. Binance denies these accusations, calling them “baseless.”
A U.S. court has handed down a 30-year prison sentence to Mohammed Azharuddin Chhipa, who was found guilty of financing terrorism through cryptocurrency.
A major chapter in crypto’s legal reckoning closed this week as Alex Mashinsky, once a prominent name in digital lending, received a 12-year prison sentence.
Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky is asking for a significantly reduced prison sentence ahead of his May 8 sentencing, with his legal team pushing back hard against the U.S. Department of Justice’s call for a 20-year term.
The legal battle against the creators of Samourai Wallet has taken a sharp turn, as defense attorneys accuse federal prosecutors of suppressing a key legal interpretation from the Treasury Department that could dismantle the core of the government’s case.