Court Rejects Binance's Attempt to "Wordsmith" SEC's Press Releases About Case

U.S. Judge Rejects Binance. US Complaint Over SEC Press Release on Protecting Customer Money

A federal judge has rebuffed Binance’s request to curtail the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) use of language pertaining to Binance. US’ management of customer funds in press releases, which the company had argued could hurt it at trial.

D.C. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who is presiding over the SEC’s case against Binance.US, dismissed the claims, maintaining the court’s mandate is not to “wordsmith” public statements from either of the case’s parties.

“It is not apparent that Court intervention … is needed at this time, or that it is necessary or appropriate for the Court to get involved in wordsmithing the parties’ press releases,” Judge Jackson ruled. “Nor is it clear that the agency’s public relations efforts to date will materially affect proceedings in this case.”

FTX Lied to Banks About Commingled Funds, Management Alleges

Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto conglomerate made “false statements” to banks about accounts commingling customer funds and fired an employee who raised concerns about the practice, the new management of bankrupt FTX alleged in a report Monday.

FTX Group employees lied to banks about using trading firm Alameda Research’s accounts for FTX.com customer transactions after some banks questioned Alameda’s wire activity in 2020 and began rejecting transfers, according to the report.

In one instance, a bank representative — noticing references to FTX — asked whether an Alameda account that received customer deposits would be used to settle trades for FTX. An Alameda employee was then directed by a senior FTX executive to lie and say customers “occasionally confuse FTX and Alameda,” but all incoming and outgoing wires are used to settle Alameda trades, the report said.

Dogecoin Investors Decry ‘Dirty Tactics’ by Elon Musk Lawyers in Insider Trading Case

Lawyers representing a group of Dogecoin investors who are suing Tesla CEO Elon Musk want the billionaire’s lawyers thrown out for misconduct, according to a new court filing in the case.

In a filing submitted to the federal court in Manhattan, the DOGE investor lawyers called on the judge to disqualify Musk’s attorneys for showing a pattern of “deprecating and oppressive misconduct” in the case.

“Trials should be litigated and defended by attorneys, not by yes-men,” the plaintiffs wrote. “Tesla is a publicly traded corporation whose CEO cannot unilaterally yoke its legal defense to his own purposes.”

The plaintiffs specifically point to a letter that was reported on by the New York Post on June 15 as proof of the defendants’ “dirty tactics”.

The most bizarre FCPA disclosure I’ve ever seen

Through the normal course of research, I review a lot of SEC filings. Over the years, I’ve probably thumbed through more than ten thousand. This has to be the most bizarre SEC filing disclosure related to the FCPA I’ve come across.

The filer — Beyond Air, Inc. — is a biomedical company that uses a “patented Ionizer™ technology that generates unlimited, on-demand nitric oxide using room air.”

I don’t know what that means, but I’m sure they are very good at it. However, I have doubts about their FCPA counsel.

Here’s the excerpt verbatim (grammar error included) from the June 23 Beyond Air, Inc. 10-K filing:

“If we sell our device outside the United States, it must comply with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and local laws of other countries. FCPA is a complex patchwork of laws can change rapidly with relatively short notice.”

Did you spot the issues?

Crypto Hubs 2023: The 15 best places in the world to live freely and work smart in Web3 and blockchain

If you could relocate anywhere in the world, where would you go?

This is basically the question CoinDesk is answering in Crypto Hubs 2023 with a ranked list of the best places to live and work for crypto professionals.

We put ourselves in a crypto startup founder’s shoes and collected then weighted data for eight different criteria that range from regulatory friendliness, digital infrastructure to quality of life. Our results, a ranked list of 15 crypto hubs, may contain some surprises. And we hope it will spark discussion.

Silicon Valley, California: The Global Hub for VC Money May Be Cooling on Crypto

“For those looking for VC funding for crypto, the Valley is almost closed,” says Gene Hoffman, CEO and president of Chia, the company behind the namesake blockchain.

Two years ago, the crypto industry was sucking talent out of the more established, “traditional” tech firms like Google, Amazon or Apple, but now, the industry doesn’t look as hot for the VCs and entrepreneurs here.

The reason? Artificial-intelligence startups are stealing thunder. And the recent SEC offensive against crypto, including investigations of the major global exchanges Binance and Coinbase, doesn’t help. “All but the diehards are now worried about buying coins,” Hoffman said. “We are going nowhere because the SEC is a blocker for us.”