Court Denies Bankman-Fried's Efforts to Obtain Documents Given to Government by Fenwick & West

Sam Bankman-Fried Can’t Subpoena Law Firm Fenwick & West, U.S. Judge Rules

Bankman-Fried sought to compel U.S. prosecutors to hand over documents given to the government by the law firm, or failing that, seek a court order to subpoena Fenwick & West LLP for the same documents. New York District Court Judge Lewis A. Kaplan on Friday denied Bankman-Fried’s request saying neither Fenwick & West nor the FTX Debtors are part of the “prosecution team.” The government “has no obligation to produce materials that are not within its possession, custody, or control,” the order added.

“Furthermore, the defendant’s proposed subpoena, if enforced, would serve as a fishing expedition and does not meet the specificity, relevance, and admissibility requirements,” set by precedents such as the 1974 U.S. case against former President Richard Nixon, which famously decided a president cannot shield himself from producing evidence in a criminal prosecution because of executive privilege.

Belgian Authorities Order Binance to Cease Country Operations

Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority said that Binance is providing trading and wallet custody services in Belgium from countries that are not members of the European Economic Area, which is prohibited.

The agency demanded that Binance “take immediate measure” to return all Belgian clients their cryptographic keys and virtual currencies that Binance holds for their account,” or transfer them to authorized services. Binance, run by Changpeng Zhao, considers itself a virtual company without a headquarters.

“The Crown Prosecutor of Brussels has been informed of the acts that are liable to constitute a criminal offense,” the agency said in a statement Friday.

SolarWinds executives receive Wells notice from US SEC

SolarWinds said on Friday some of its former and current executives had been issued a Wells notice by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over a massive 2020 data breach tied to the software firm.

A Wells notice does not necessarily mean that recipients have violated any law. The SEC issues Wells notices to firms when it is planning to bring enforcement action against them.

“We are cooperating in a long investigative process that seems to be progressing to charges by the SEC against our company and officers,” a SolarWinds spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

Black Rock CEO Larry Fink “ashamed” to be part of ESG political debate

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said he’s no longer using the term “ESG” (environment, social and governance) because it is being politically “weaponized” and he’s “ashamed” to be part of the debate on the issue.

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What he’s saying: “I’m ashamed of being part of this conversation,” Fink said.

“When I write these [investment] letters, it was never meant to be a political statement. … They were written to identify longterm issues to our longterm investors,” he told the crowd.

Yes, but: When pressed on the statement later in the conversation, Fink backtracked.

“I never said I was ashamed,” he said, incorrectly. “I’m not ashamed. I do believe in conscientious capitalism.”

“I’m not going to use the word ESG because it’s been misused by the far left and the far right,” he added.

2020 Twitter Hacker Sentence to 5 Years on Crypto Theft, SIM Swapping Scheme

A British man who made roughly $900,000 in an elaborate Twitter hack and a separate crypto-related SIM-swapping scheme received a 5-year sentence from a federal judge on Friday, Inner City Press reported.

People’s lives were affected by Joseph O’Connor’s actions, said Judge Jed Rakoff during the sentencing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Friday.

O’Connor, also known by his social media handle PlugWalkJoe, engineered a devastating Twitter hack in 2020, hijacking prominent accounts on the platform (including CoinDesk) and using them to promote a bitcoin giveaway scam. He made $103,960 from the scheme.

Adani Group Draws Regulatory Scrutiny in the US After Short Seller Report

US authorities are looking into what representations Adani Group made to its American investors following a scathing short seller’s report that accused the company of using offshore companies to secretly manipulate its share prices.

The US Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn, New York, has sent inquiries in recent months to institutional investors with large holdings in the India conglomerate, one person familiar with the inquiries said. The requests for information were focused on what Adani Group told those investors, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the probe isn’t public. The Securities and Exchange Commission also has a similar probe underway, two other people said.