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A former New York cop and alleged pedophile has described Sam Bankman-fried as the “least physically intimidating person,” in a letter pleading for the disgraced former FTX chief to be handed a light sentence. Writing to US district judge Lewis Kaplan, who is overseeing SBF’s sentencing, Carmine Simpson, who is currently incarcerated alongside Bankman-Fried, claimed, “I have had the honor to have gotten to know Sam over the past six months.” He added, “Sam is the most selfless person that I have ever had the privilege to meet,” and claims that “the world would be better with Bankman-Fried out of jail.” He then reasons that “incarceration would serve no benefit.” According to Simpson, one of the biggest “examples of Sam’s character” is that he has remained committed to his vegan diet of “ undercooked rice, a scoop of disgusting-looking beans, and week-old brown lettuce .” The letter also details how he has become a ta...

A former Chinese takeaway worker living in the UK has been accused of laundering bitcoin from a $6.3 billion China-based fraud by converting it into property and luxury goods. As reported by the Financial Times, 42-year-old Jian Wen has been charged with three counts of money laundering. She is accused of converting bitcoin on behalf of Yadi Zhang, real name Zhimin Qian, who allegedly stole $6.3 billion worth of funds through investment fraud. Zhang allegedly stole from 128,000 investors in China between 2014 and 2017 before authorities began pursuing her. It’s reported that she fled the country in 2017, converted the funds into bitcoin, flew to London, and adopted a false identity. She subsequently fled the UK and remains at large. Prosecutors claim Wen kept Zhang out of focus by acting as her “front person,” helping convert bitcoin into various luxury items, cash, and property “to disguise the true source of the funds.” Wen denies the charges, claiming she was Zhang’s car...

Four Chinese nationals and a Lao citizen were arrest ed over their role in a crypto currency fraud that caused victims 2.7 billion Baht (approximately 76 million) worth of losses. The Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) of Thailand shared that at least 3,280 people have fallen victim to this crypto currency scam, with reports occurring since November 2022, The Bangkok Post reported. Not just one case of fraud Victims were said to being approached by strangers or foreigners who invited them to invest using foreign mobile apps and other online platforms, promising a high return on investment. Pol Col Kissana, the spokesperson for the CCIB, shared that many victims invested their life savings into this scam, even taking out a second mortgage on their land or home. The investigation found that several of the people running the fraudulent website (bchgloballtd.com) were also linked to other fake platforms. With support from Homeland Security Investigation and other law enforcement ...

A group of sophisticated Twitter hackers is successfully targeting high-profile accounts on FinTwit and CryptoTwitter. The group remained anonymous until analyst ZachXBT uncovered its on-chain trails, shedding light on its previous activity. Last week, the group hacked the account of Jim Bianco from Bianco Research to promote a fake coin. Others who’ve fallen victim to the collective include broker and financial commentator Peter Schiff, OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati, music producer Steve Aoki, and Bitcoin Magazine editor Pete Rizzo. More than 115 ether have been stolen by the group through phishing scams that ask users to click on links to claim fake coins. The links give authorization to access your online MetaMask wallet. These scams have sometimes been running for days, affecting dozens of victims while Twitter Support takes its time to address them . OpenAI exec’s Twitter account hacked to steal crypto Read more: Not even Sir David Attenborough...