Elon Musk Asks Supreme Court to Free Him of "Twitter Sitter"

Elon Musk Appeals to Supreme Court in ‘Twitter Sitter’ Dispute Over Tesla Posts

Elon Musk asked the US Supreme Court to consider invalidating an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to have his posts about Tesla Inc. on his X social media network screened in advance.

In an appeal filed Thursday, Musk said the accord violates his free speech rights under the Constitution’s First Amendment.

The provision “is a quintessential prior restraint that the law forbids,” argued Musk, the chief executive of Tesla and owner of X Corp., formerly known as Twitter.

Binance Founder Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao Stuck in U.S. Until Sentencing

Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) cannot return to the United Arab Emirates before his sentencing, a federal judge ruled Thursday night.

Zhao, who pleaded guilty to one charge of violating the Bank Secrecy Act last month, is set to be scheduled in February 2024. He was released on a $175 million personal recognizance bond, putting up some cash in escrow and having guarantors put up around $5 million worth of assets as collateral. While Zhao’s bond originally allowed him to return to the UAE, where he, his children and his partner all live, prosecutors argued he was a flight risk and should not be permitted to leave the U.S.

SEC and CFTC Should Create Joint Standards to Address Crypto, Ex-Agency Chairs Say

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission should collaborate to create standards to address the crypto industry, former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton and former CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad said on Thursday.

“The basic problem here is that crypto trading platforms and other crypto intermediaries are essentially unregulated,” Massad said at a crypto seminar at Georgetown University’s Psaros Center.

Congress is considering different approaches to regulation, but Massad noted there has not been a consensus, and some of the approaches, such as rewriting definitions of securities, could have “unintended consequences.” Instead, he and Clayton suggest that the SEC and CFTC work together to create standards for platforms trading crypto tokens.

“We think the approach we’ve advocated is simpler,” Massad said.

Daniel R. Gregus, Director of the Chicago Regional Office, to Depart the SEC

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Daniel R. Gregus, Director of the Chicago Regional Office, will leave the agency at the end of December after more than 30 years of service. Vanessa Horton and Kathryn Pyszka will become Acting Co-Directors upon Mr. Gregus’s departure.

Mr. Gregus has led the Chicago office since November 2021. Under his leadership, the Chicago office has developed expertise in broker-dealer sales practices, market structure issues and municipal securities, brought significant and impactful enforcement actions, and conducted hundreds of examinations of SEC-registered broker-dealers, advisers, swap dealers, and transfer agents.

Bipartisan Anti-Crypto Terror Financing Bill Heads to U.S. Senate

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators including Mitt Romney (R-UT) introduced legislation that expands sanctions to foreign entities supporting all U.S.-designated terrorist groups, including through crypto transactions, giving law enforcement an additional toolkit to tackle terror financing.

“The Terrorist Financing Prevention Act of 2023, introduced by the Senators, aims to prevent Foreign Terrorist Organizations and their financial enablers, including those using digital assets, from accessing U.S. financial institutions, imposing sanctions and strict regulations to counteract these activities,” the bill reads.

The proposed act broadens current sanctions, initially focused on Hezbollah, to include all U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations and their supporting foreign entities.

Ex-Apple lawyer sentenced to probation for insider trading

Apple’s former top corporate lawyer will receive no prison time after pleading guilty last year to U.S. insider trading charges, a judge said on Thursday.

U.S. District Judge William Martini in Newark, New Jersey, sentenced Gene Levoff to four years of probation and 2,000 hours of community service. Levoff was also ordered to pay a $30,000 fine and forfeit $604,000.

Levoff had admitted to six securities fraud counts that each carried a maximum 20-year prison term and $5 million fine.

Bitcoin’s unlikely resurgence: bulls bet on Wall Street adoption

Speculators are now betting that the toughest regulatory punishments have passed and bitcoin will be embraced by large global fund managers and investment banks.

“You’re looking at the two biggest guys in crypto potentially both going to jail and yet crypto goes on … the old guard is being replaced by fresh money,” said Ed Hindi, chief investment officer at investment management firm Tyr Capital.

“Everything has been thrown at bitcoin and it’s held up, whether you like it or not, it’s going to command a place in portfolios.”