Category: Business & Economy

Increasing US Enforcement Action for Sanctions Violations by Crypto Exchanges Likely to Have Ripple Effect in UK and Europe

The investigation and enforcement of potential sanctions violations by crypto exchanges is an area of focus in the US at present.  The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC) recent settlement with Kraken, a global virtual currency exchange, is the most recent OFAC case demonstrating the risks for virtual currency platforms that process transactions without comprehensive…

OFAC Announces Settlement with Virtual Currency Exchange Kraken

On November 28, 2022, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) announced a settlement agreement with Payward, Inc., known as Kraken (“Kraken”), a United States-based virtual currency exchange. Kraken agreed to pay $362,158.70 to resolve its potential civil liability for 826 apparent violations of the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations (“Apparent Violations”). The settlement amount is significantly less than the…

Ripple’s General Counsel Allegedly Blames SEC For BlockFi Bankruptcy

Stuart Alderoty, General Counsel for Ripple, stated in a tweet that BlockFi’s problem is another regulation by-enforcement success story of the SEC. The counsel asserted that the $100 million enforcement fine that the SEC charged BlockFi contributed to the firm’s bankruptcy. He also raised questions about the $270 million loan outstanding and some unknown amounts owed to BlockFi by FTX….

OFAC And FinCEN Announce Enforcement Actions Against Bittrex

Please note that Bittrex is a crypto exchange / trading platform. Crypto exchanges are like merchants that sell and trade cryptocurrencies, while cryptocurrencies (like Monero, Bitcoin, ZCash, etc.) are the ‘products’ sold by the merchants. The failure of a merchant does not entail that there is a failure in the product. Cryptocurrency experts recommend that if you are going to…

As Sean Hannity’s (Fox News) former director awaits extradition to US for entangled sanctions mess with Russia, Konstantin Malofeyev’s US bank account was just seized

Prosecutors on Wednesday moved to confiscate $5.4 million from a U.S. bank account belonging to Russian businessman Konstantin Malofeyev, who Washington has accused of financing separatists in eastern Ukraine and Crimea and imposed sanctions on him. (Reuters) Konstantin Malofeyev is the founder of Tsargrad TV, and has been reported in western media to be a regular “consultant” to the Kremlin….

FTC shuts down companies that falsely promised to eliminate credit card debt. List of defendants and allegations.

The FTC has temporarily shut down a credit card debt relief scheme operated by Sean Austin, John Steven Huffman, and John Preston Thompson and their affiliated companies that allegedly took millions from people by falsely promising to eliminate or substantially reduce their credit card debt: ACRO SERVICES LLC, a limited liability company, also d/b/a Capital Compliance Solutions, AMERICAN CONSUMER RIGHTS…

Illicit Financing Risks in the Digital Assets Space: Department of the Treasury Releases Three Reports on Digital Assets and Invites Comment

On September 16, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) published three reports in response to a March 2022 Executive Order concerning the development of digital assets.  The reports address the future of money and payments; implications for consumers, investors, and businesses; and the illicit financing risks of digital assets.  Secretary Yellen described the reports as identifying the challenges…

OFAC Sanctions Virtual Currency Mixer “Tornado Cash”

On August 8, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) sanctioned virtual currency mixer Tornado Cash for having laundered more than USD 7 billion worth of virtual currency since its founding in 2019.  This includes over USD 455 million worth of stolen virtual currency associated with the Lazarus Group, a “Democratic People’s Republic of…

Central African Republic: Said trial opens at International Criminal Court

Mahamat Said Abdel Kani – a top-ranking leader of the mostly-Muslim Séléka militia – pleaded not guilty to all charges, which relate to atrocities carried out in 2013, in the Central African Republic capital, Bangui. Much of the violence stemmed for clashes between Séléka and the mostly-Christian Anti-balaka faction. Occupation Before the crimes were committed, from late 2012 to early…

Politician accuses FDIC of coercing banks into denying services to lawful crypto companies

In a letter dated August 16, 2022, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey addressed FDIC acting chairman Martin Gruenberg to inquire about some recent FDIC actions that came to light by way of whistleblower reporting. Toomey said that the affected parties came forward to reveal that their banks received letters from the FDIC discouraging the bank from doing business with legitimate crypto…

EU’s 6th package of anti-Russian sanctions: oil embargo, banking bans, media bans

Jun 27, 2022. The European Union’s governing body has published a list of new sanctions against Moscow, accusing Russia of a “continuing war of aggression against Ukraine.” The sixth batch of restrictions since February contains a phased embargo on oil imports, restrictions against some Russian banks and broadcasters, and the blacklisting of people Brussels accuses of war crimes. The Council…

Germany silences journalist covering Ukraine, threatens prison, freezes family’s bank accounts

June 25, 2022. A criminal investigation has been opened against Alina Lipp, a German journalist based in the Donbass. She has been covering the Russian-Ukrainian conflict as an independent journalist and has fallen out of favor with the German government. Alina faces up to three years in prison.

Russia cuts off more gas supplies to Europe

2022-06-01. Russia is cutting off more gas supplies to Europe. On Tuesday, the state energy company Gazprom cut off some gas to the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany. This came hours after the EU banned most Russian oil imports. (Democracy Now) Denmark Denmark’s largest energy company said Russia cut off its gas supply Wednesday because it refused to pay in rubles,…

Germany to face wave of bankruptcies amid inflation and Ukraine sanctions

May 9, 2022. The future of Commerzbank’s business in Russia will depend, among other things, on Russia’s behavior and further sanctions, according to Handelsblatt report. Germany’s Commerzbank is preparing for more businesses to fail in Europe’s biggest economy amid high inflation and economic perils exacerbated by Russia’s war in Ukraine. The lender expects provisions for loan losses to rise as…

Financial Worries on the rise in the US, Gallup Poll

May 9, 2022. Americans are more likely today than they were a year ago to report being “very” or “moderately worried” about several aspects of their finances, reversing the improvement seen last year. People’s concern has increased in relation to paying monthly bills, maintaining their standard of living, paying rent or mortgage, making minimum payments on credit cards and having…

More money to Ukraine. What’s your government doing for its own citizens?

May 7, 2022. The U.S. government wants $33 billion more for the War in Ukraine and is telling its people that Russia is a threat not only to Ukraine, but to Americans. The enormous aid package is twice the size of a provision approved by Congress last month. It would eclipse all the spending by the United States so far…