False alarm: DOJ did not classify MNGO as a commodity

Avraham Eisenberg was arrested in Puerto Rico on Dec. 26 on commodities fraud and manipulation charges relating to the $110 million exploit of the decentralized Mango Markets exchange. Eisenberg had self-identified as the actor behind what he called a “highly profitable trading strategy” and insisted that he had taken “legal open market actions, using the […]
SEC general counsel announces departure from public service

Dan Berkovitz, general counsel for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, said he will be leaving the agency after more than a year. In a Dec. 22 announcement, the SEC said Berkovitz will depart on Jan. 31. A former commissioner with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Berkovitz joined the agency in November 2021. At […]
Alameda’s Caroline Ellison and FTX’s Gary Wang hit with additional fraud charges

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have hit former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and former FTX co-founder Gary Wang with fresh fraud charges. The new charges from the SEC and CFTC come as the pair plead guilty to federal fraud charges filed by the U.S. […]
SBF signs extradition papers, set to return to face charges in the US

Sam Bankman-Fried, the jailed founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange has reportedly signed papers on Dec. 20 waiving his extradition hearing in the Bahamas and see him flown to the United States to face multiple criminal charges. A hearing in the Bahamas Supreme Court was set for Dec. 21 regarding the matter. Bankman-Fried reportedly wanted […]
Sam Bankman-Fried arrested and consented to the extradition — Law Decoded, Dec. 12-19.

Welcome to Law Decoded, your weekly digest of all the major developments in the field of regulation. The FTX drama escalated last week when the Royal Bahamas Police Force arrested its former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, at the request of the United States government. Within hours, politicians, crypto executives and influencers had all booted up their […]
Alameda had ‘unfair’ trading advantage, special access to FTX funds: CFTC filing

Court filings continue to shed light on the dubious relationship between FTX and Alameda Research, in which the hedge fund was afforded an ‘unfair’ trading advantage as well as unprecedented access to user holdings on the cryptocurrency exchange. The United States Commodities Futures Trading Commission filed a complaint in the Southern District Court in New […]
Bahamian securities regulator slams new FTX CEO over ‘misstatements’

The Securities Commission of Bahamas has slammed the current CEO of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX John J. Ray III for his statements regarding the ongoing investigation into FTX. In a press release sent to Cointelegraph, the Bahaman regulator didn’t directly point toward the exact statements of the CEO, but addressed recent reports that suggest the […]