Allison Herren Lee, former SEC Acting Chair and Commissioner, and Andrew Feller, former Senior Counsel in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, have joined Labaton Keller Sucharow as Senior Counsel and Of Counsel, respectively. The firm is launching a new Whistleblower Representation Practice.
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Singaporean Ringleader of $245 Million Cryptocurrency Racketeering Enterprise Pleads Guilty in Washington D.C.
Malone Lam, 22, a citizen of Singapore and recent resident of Miami, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. in connection with his role as ringleader of an international cybercrime conspiracy that used social engineering to steal and launder cryptocurrency valued at more than $245 million, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro. [...]
Lam pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to one count of participating in a RICO conspiracy. Judge Kollar-Kotelly set a status hearing December 8, 2026.
According to court documents, the criminal enterprise began no later than October 2023 and continued through at least May 2025. The scheme developed through connections made on online gaming platforms and was comprised of individuals based in California, Connecticut, New York, Florida, and abroad. The RICO conspiracy used social engineering and occasional home break-ins to obtain information that allowed the conspirators to drain their victims’ cryptocurrency wallets.
by DOJ Press Releases
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👉 The first thing to point out here is that the defendant, Malone Lam, is listed as aka "Anne Hathaway,” “$$$,” and “King Greavy”.
The second thing is that "Anne Hathaway" allegedly went full-YOLO with the allegedly stolen funds, purchasing "nightclub services ranging up to $500,000 per evening, luxury handbags valued in the tens of thousands of dollars which were given away at nightclub parties, luxury watches valued between $100,000 up to over $500,000, luxury clothing valued in the tens of thousands of dollars, rental homes in Los Angeles, the Hamptons, and Miami, private jet rentals for travel, a team of private security guards, and a fleet of exotic cars, ranging in value from $100,000 to $3,800,000."
The DOJ press release includes a number of photos of the purchases:
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Are the Big Four Auditors’ PCAOB Inspection Results Too Good to Be True?
On August 13, 2026, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board issued its latest inspection reports for the six largest public audit firms: BDO USA, P.C., Deloitte & Touche LLP, Ernst & Young LLP, Grant Thornton LLP, KPMG LLP, and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. These firms collectively audit the vast majority of corporate issuers. In this post, I focus on the inspection reports of the “Big Four:” Deloitte, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and KPMG, which collectively audit issuers comprising about 80 percent of the market capitalization of listed companies.
These Big Four inspection reports are astonishing for the improvements they reflect in the performance of these firms. But which narrative do they support: an industry that has dramatically gotten its act together, or a regulator that has been brought to heel by an aggressively deregulatory SEC? Given the nonpublic nature of the PCAOB’s internal processes, any answer must be speculative. Still, there are clues that ought to pique the curiosity of audit committees of the Big Four firms’ public company clients, as well as congressional oversight committees.
by CLS Blue Sky Blog
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Unrepentant Elizabeth Holmes already plotting biotech comeback from behind bars: ‘Shameless and delusional’
Silicon Valley swindler Elizabeth Holmes is already plotting a comeback from her Texas prison camp, despite only being three years into her 10-year sentence.
The Theranos fraudster, 42, has managed to help her husband raise a reported $18 million for another blood testing startup, The Post has learned.
“She is shameless and delusional to think that she could be taken seriously again by any medical and biotech professionals,” a Silicon Valley biotech insider told The Post.
Much like her previous company — which reached a $9 billion valuation before the science behind it was proven to be bunk and she was convicted of scamming investors — the new business, called Haemanthus, is a health tech company that aims, once again, to revolutionize medical testing, according to reports.
“This is completely a joke,” the insider told The Post, noting the company has no publicly disclosed scientific advisors or peer-reviewed research for its product. “It sounds exactly like Theranos 2.0.”
by NY Post: Business
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The SEC Unmuzzles Jamie Dimon
The Securities and Exchange Commission has often failed at its core job of policing fraud in public markets, while charging into the political arena. Kudos to Chairman Paul Atkins for proposing last week to rescind an Obama-era rule that usurped power to police political donations.
The SEC’s 2010 so-called pay-for-play rule effectively prohibits many employees in the finance industry from contributing more than $350 to candidates for state and local offices. The barred include those who have the “authority to appoint any person who is directly or indirectly responsible for, or can influence the outcome of, the hiring of an investment adviser by a government entity.” [...]
JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon last year lambasted the rule for effectively muzzling him and others in his industry. “I can’t speak up, and I can’t fight for what I believe,” he said. “Doesn’t that violate my First Amendment rights?” Daniel Shuchman and Bradley Smith made a compelling argument in these pages last year that it does.
by wsj.com
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Iran turns to crypto to shore up economy
Iran is turning to cryptocurrencies to try and keep trade flowing during the US war and blockade, relaxing its strict foreign currency controls in order to counter tightening sanctions.
Long cut out of the global financial system, Iran has for years imposed onerous hurdles on importers and exporters in order to control the supply of foreign currency, prompting businesses to build up what the judiciary estimates is more than $100bn in undeclared earnings at home and overseas.
But Iranian businesses, regime insiders and analysts say the central bank has in recent months quietly encouraged traders to repatriate funds by whatever means necessary to help sustain the battered economy.
This includes using cryptocurrencies, notably Tether but also bitcoin, to settle cross-border transactions through Iranian crypto exchanges, the people said.
by FT Cryptofinance
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