"Guilty" -- Crypto Insider Trading Defendant Admits to Wire Fraud Conspiracy Charges

Ex-Coinbase Employee Pleads Guilty to Insider Trading

A former employee of the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange pleaded guilty on Tuesday to insider trading, the first time a crypto industry insider has admitted to trying to profit from confidential information.

The case has been closely watched in the crypto industry since the charges against Ishan Wahi, a former Coinbase product manager, were filed in July in federal court in the Southern District of New York. By cracking down on insider trading at a major exchange, the federal authorities signaled a willingness to pursue the freewheeling crypto industry for the same type of malfeasance that occurs in traditional financial markets.

Mr. Wahi, who admitted to two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, is scheduled to be sentenced on May 10. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, though federal guidelines often result in shorter sentences.

Insider Trader’s Phony Letter to Judge From Ex-Fiancee Backfires

The letter from a former Silicon Valley Bank vice president’s one-time fiancee to the judge who was set to sentence him for insider trading made him out to be a decent guy, deserving of leniency.

While Mounir Gad was spared from prison for securities fraud in 2021, it turned out that his ex didn’t actually write the letter. Gad did — without her permission, according to federal prosecutors.

Now Gad, 36, is headed to prison for 15 months after pleading guilty to document tampering, identity theft and criminal contempt of court.

Binance Signals Full Audit for Crypto’s Biggest Exchange Remains Some Way Off

Binance, the world’s largest digital-asset exchange, indicated a full audit of its assets and liabilities is some way off amid calls for more transparency following the collapse of rival FTX.

The company’s goal is to hire an auditor for the whole balance sheet but big accountants are still learning about the crypto sector, which lacks agreed standards for challenges like price volatility, Binance’s Asia-Pacific head Leon Foong said. Leon FoongSource: Binance

“It’ll take a longer time,” Foong said in an interview. “It shows you the limitations of the more traditional industries because there is a learning curve. Number one, it’s not their core competence. And number two, obviously there’s a lot of scrutiny if they get it wrong.”

‘Crypto Mom’ Hester Peirce: SEC ‘Disappoints’ When It Comes to CryptoSome of the complications of trying to write a regulatory policy through enforcement actions are apparent with the BlockFi settlement, she said. “If we had simply been more proactive in a regulatory way on crypto lending, we could have had a framework in place that would have applied to everyone,” she said.

Such a framework could have “taken into account a wide range of views about what the right approach was there.”

Peirce pointed a finger at her colleagues who “don’t think that any clarity is needed.” Her peers “think there’s plenty of clarity” – and do not see much point in regulating crypto, a technology they do not consider useful.

“It’s disappointing,” she said. “I’ve been here for five years now and I’ve seen very few proactive steps toward trying to [in advance] set up a regulatory regime that makes sense.” Her hope is for crypto builders to spend time thinking about things other than regulation. ”You can’t have this system where everyone is unable to move forward because everything is so ambiguous.”

ESG-Related Risk Factors: Nearly All S&P 500 Co’s Now Have Them

Based on our review of companies in the S&P 500, having ESG-related disclosures in the risk factors is now a common practice. For companies which have already filed their annual report for fiscal year 2022, 89% had ESG-related risk factors. These risk factors spanned a range of ESG-related topics, primarily related to climate change, but also including diversity-, other environmental-, or general ESG-related risks….

As you can see, the number of companies with an ESG-related risk factor has increased year-over-year. Less than half of the S&P 500 had an ESG-related risk factor in their annual report for fiscal year 2019. Since then, a significant number of companies have added ESG-related risk factors to their annual report, and we expect this trend to be followed by small- and mid-cap companies.

US Prosecutors Ask for Postponement of SEC, CFTC Cases Against Sam Bankman-Fried

U.S. prosecutors have asked that the civil fraud cases brought by the Securities Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried be postponed until after the criminal case against him has concluded, according to a filing on Tuesday.

In their filing, prosecutors said the stay will save time and resources because the outcome of the criminal case “is likely to have a significant impact on what issues are ultimately in dispute in the Civil Cases.”

Sam Bankman-Fried Appeals Judge’s Decision to Reveal Names of His $250M Bond Backers

Former FTX chief Sam Bankman-Fried has appealed a judge’s decision to allow the identities of the two currently unidentified people who co-signed his $250 million bail bond to be made public, according to a filing made on Tuesday. It was already known that Bankman-Fried’s parents also co-signed the bond, but the other names were kept private.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled early last week in favor of four separate petitions by a number of news organizations seeking the names of these individuals, who signed onto the bond earlier this month.

Now that an appeal has been filed, Kaplan’s ruling has been stayed until at least Feb. 14.