ChainCatcher news, according to DL News, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a lawsuit against Touzi Capital and its CEO Eng Taing, accusing them of a $115 million unregistered securities offering fraud. According to the complaint, from 2021 to early 2023, the defendants raised approximately $118 million through false advertising of cryptocurrency mining and debt restructuring businesses, including $95 million from the crypto mining project and $23 million from the debt restructuring project, involving over 1,500 investors across the United States.The SEC stated that Taing falsely promoted the project as a "stable and predictable" high-yield savings account investment, while in reality, these investments were "highly speculative and lacked liquidity." The SEC accused the defendants of misappropriating investor funds for personal purposes and continuing to solicit investors even after the business began to collapse. In fiscal year 2024, the SEC initiated a total of 583 enforcement actions, obtaining a record $8.2 billion in financial compensation.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, U.S. District Judge Ann Marie McIff Allen in Utah has denied the appeal request from Kristoffer Krohn, a promoter of Green United, regarding the September 23 ruling that allowed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to sue Green United LLC. The judge stated that Krohn failed to provide grounds for the appeal.In the arguments against the dismissal of the lawsuit, Krohn claimed that the SEC failed to prove that the Green Boxes offered by Green United were investment contracts, which the regulatory agency alleged in its complaint. He also argued that the SEC confused elements in the Howey test that defines securities. However, Judge Allen stated that Krohn's arguments were incorrect, accusing him of selectively quoting terms from two different definitions and "failing to provide any legal support to demonstrate that any court has adopted the definition he described."In 2023, the SEC charged that executives of Green United operated a fraudulent cryptocurrency mining scheme that defrauded investors of $18 million through the sale of Green Boxes and Green Boxes investment products from April 2018 to December 2022.

ChainCatcher news reports that, according to the U.S. police, a Florida man impersonated billionaire Elon Musk on Facebook and scammed over $250,000 from an elderly woman.Earlier this week, police arrested 56-year-old Jeffrey Moynihan, Jr. on charges of grand theft. The Bradenton Police Department stated that financial records show the victim, a woman from Texas, sent at least $250,000 to Moynihan's company in Florida. The victim's husband further told police that she had sent a total of "about $600,000" to Moynihan.Bradenton police said they arrested Moynihan at his home on November 19, noting that the real Elon Musk was likely busy with the sixth SpaceX Starship test flight that day.Police stated that the 74-year-old victim became friends on Facebook with an account named "Elon Musk" in 2023. The woman communicated with the fake account for "months," during which the impersonator encouraged her to invest in his business.The "fake Musk" promised the woman a $55 million return on her investment. However, police indicated that the money went directly into Moynihan and his company "Jeff's Painting and Pressure Washing, LLC" bank accounts.In body camera footage released by the police, Moynihan questioned why they had issued an arrest warrant when he was taken into custody. He asked in the video, "Grand theft? What did I steal?" It is currently unclear whether Moynihan has hired a lawyer. The Bradenton Police Department has not yet commented on this matter.

ChainCatcher news, South Korean virtual asset exchange Upbit announced that it has refunded approximately 8.5 billion won (about 6.07 million USD) to around 380 victims of telecom fraud. The operator Dunamu utilized a real-time abnormal transaction monitoring system (FDS) to freeze the affected funds and collaborated with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency to advance the refund process. In February of this year, refunds of about 5 billion won were made to 246 victims, and this time an additional 3.5 billion won was refunded to 134 victims.Upbit stated that it will continue to strengthen monitoring and collaboration to protect user assets from telecom fraud.

ChainCatcher news, the police in Busan, South Korea, have arrested a group of scammers who operated a fraudulent investment group under the guise of cryptocurrency futures investment, promising high returns. On November 21, the police detained the main suspect A and 23 others on charges of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes and the Act on the Prohibition of Similar Fundraising Activities.According to police investigations, from October last year to May this year, A and others set up fake investment websites, impersonated investment experts, and lured 134 victims into participating in the so-called "investment guidance group" through social media ads and text messages, promising capital protection and high returns, defrauding a total of about 6.5 billion won (approximately 4.65 million USD).

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Nepal has found that despite the official ban on trading digital assets, cryptocurrencies are still widely used to facilitate online fraud.The Financial Intelligence Unit is a specialized department of Nepal Rastra Bank, the central bank of Nepal, responsible for monitoring and combating financial fraud, including money laundering and terrorist financing.In the "Strategic Analysis Report" released on November 18, the Financial Intelligence Unit noted an increase in the use of cryptocurrencies for money laundering by criminals. The report stated that fraudsters convert illegal funds into cryptocurrencies, which poses challenges for authorities in tracking and recovering the funds.

ChainCatcher news, the Tongcheng City Anti-Fraud Center received a tip-off indicating that there was a large suspicious fund transaction related to fraud in the area. It is reported that the victim, Ms. Hu, met a "rich and handsome" boyfriend named Zhang online, who claimed to be working in virtual currency investment abroad, and asked her to prepare cash to hand over to a "client manager." Fortunately, the police of Tongcheng City discovered and successfully intercepted the situation in time. Upon investigation, the so-called "client manager" was actually a "cash handler" recruited by an overseas fraud group. Currently, the suspect has been criminally detained in accordance with the law for suspected fraud, and the 730,000 yuan defrauded funds have all been returned to the victim. The case is under further investigation. (Anqing Voice WeChat Official Account)

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, U.S. federal prosecutors stated that FTX co-founder Gary Wang provided "outstanding" assistance to federal prosecutors in the SBF case, having created "tools" to help the U.S. government uncover other fraudulent activities and advocating for leniency for Wang.In a sentencing report submitted on Wednesday, federal prosecutors wrote: "Wang also provided substantial assistance and took steps to correct past mistakes in the process, utilizing his extraordinary computer programming skills to detect potential fraud in the stock and cryptocurrency markets." Details of Wang's code were heavily redacted in government documents.The U.S. government stated that, unlike his co-conspirators, Wang did not deceive customers, lenders, or investors, nor did he misappropriate customer funds. While prosecutors did not recommend a specific sentence, the submitted memorandum requested the court to consider Wang's outstanding cooperation.

ChainCatcher news, according to the Wen Wei Po report, the Hong Kong police announced data on online investment fraud cases for the first 9 months of 2024. A total of 3,468 cases were reported, involving approximately HKD 2.2 billion, with 35% related to virtual assets. Although this is a decrease compared to the same period last year, the number of cases in October surged by 24% month-on-month, indicating a rebound trend.The largest single loss came from a virtual asset scam, where a female executive of a cryptocurrency company was defrauded of HKD 78.47 million. The police remind that nearly 60% of victims first contacted the scammers through instant messaging software, and 40% of the victims are aged between 40 and 59.From January to October 2023, investment fraud cases reached 5,017, involving approximately HKD 4.93 billion. In September this year, there were 312 cases with an amount of HKD 187 million; in October, it increased to 380 cases, involving HKD 248 million, showing an upward trend. The police urge investors to remain vigilant and beware of virtual asset investment traps.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, former CEO of the crypto platform Celsius, Alex Mashinsky, is facing criminal charges in the United States. His representative lawyer has lost the case and failed to dismiss two charges related to commodity fraud and manipulation of the CEL token price.In documents submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on November 8, Judge John Koeltl ruled that Mashinsky's legal team's arguments for dismissing the charges were "either irrelevant or without merit." The judge denied the motion to dismiss the two charges, leaving seven charges still in the indictment against Mashinsky, with the trial scheduled to begin in January 2025.

ChainCatcher news, according to Jinshi reports, the Futian Branch of the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau issued a notice stating: "Dingyifeng" and its affiliated companies issued false financial products and "DDO digital options" (which belong to "air coins"), engaging in illegal activities and have suspected criminal offenses. In order to legally combat crime and protect the legitimate rights and interests of investors, the public security authorities have taken criminal coercive measures against Sui Mouyi, Ma Mouqiu, and others on suspicion of fundraising fraud and other crimes.Currently, the case is under further investigation. The police urge investors to actively cooperate with the public security authorities in the investigation and evidence collection, truthfully reflect the situation of the case, legally and reasonably express their demands, and not to believe or spread rumors.

ChainCatcher news, the case of "virtual asset T-Coin pyramid scheme" with 30,000 victims in South Korea has recently been prosecuted by the Eastern District Prosecutors' Office in Seoul. The individuals involved, including Choi and Lee, promised high returns under the guise of "investing in T-Coin, AI automatic trading" from 2017 to 2019, collecting a total of 3.9251 billion won.Since the case received complaints in September 2020, it has gone through a complex back-and-forth between the police and prosecutors, until the newly appointed prosecutor Lee Sang-won took the initiative to intervene, re-examine the case, and gather complainants for investigation, ultimately transferring the case to court within six months. The former prosecutor commented that this case highlights the phenomenon of evasion and delays in investigations between the police and prosecutors.

ChainCatcher news, two men pleaded guilty in a U.S. court for a "Rug Pull" scam involving three Solana NFT projects in 2022, with amounts reaching $400,000. One has been convicted, while the other admitted to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.The case involves the NFT projects "Undead Apes," "Undead Lady Apes," and "Undead Tombstone." The scammers used false statements to inflate project prices and attract investors. The projects raised nearly $400,000 in a short period. In April 2022, after minting 632 "Undead Tombstone" NFTs, the scammers suddenly shut down all project social accounts and cut off contact with the community, completing the "Rug Pull."

ChainCatcher news, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California has dismissed a fraud lawsuit filed by two former executives against the Bitcoin mining and data center operator Northern Data. According to court records, the case was terminated earlier this month after plaintiffs Joshua Porter and Gulsen Kama voluntarily withdrew their claims. Porter and Kama previously served as the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of the company's U.S. division, respectively.In the lawsuit filed in April, the two accused Northern Data of falsely exaggerating its financial condition and allegedly evading tens of millions of dollars in taxes.Additionally, Northern Data recently announced that it is considering divesting its Bitcoin mining subsidiary Peaking Mining to focus on artificial intelligence and cloud computing businesses.Previous news, Tether-backed Northern Data was accused of fraudulent activities by two former executives.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cryptonews, Thai authorities have cracked a cross-border cryptocurrency fraud case, which allegedly defrauded a local woman of over $620,000.According to local reports, the network spans Thailand, Cambodia, and Myanmar, operating a highly organized scam involving fake online investment opportunities, identity theft, and cross-border money laundering. Investigations reveal that the suspects used a fake investment chat group to lure victims, subsequently moving to private messaging applications to exert more control. In this case, the victim Mallika contacted the scammers through a public Facebook group and was ultimately persuaded to invest in a fake high-return cryptocurrency and stock portfolio, transferring a total of 21 million Thai Baht (approximately $621,000).The Thai Immigration Bureau has obtained arrest warrants and apprehended several suspects, and the case is still under further investigation.

ChainCatcher news, according to the Shandong Cyber Police, a man from Liaoning, Qu, impersonated an offline U merchant and was arrested by the police in September while conducting U currency transactions with a "client," with confiscated illicit funds amounting to 217,000 yuan.After investigation, the suspect Qu confessed that he had committed two U currency transactions for his superior this year, earning a total of 217,000 yuan in cash, with his cut being over 6,000 yuan.Qu admitted that he knew nothing about the U currency business, and that his superior's request for him to act as a U merchant was merely a facade. In reality, it was just to take the so-called "clients'" money. After the transactions, his superior would black out the "clients," who were all victims of their telecom network fraud.Currently, the suspect Qu has been criminally detained by the police in accordance with the law, and the case is under further investigation.

ChainCatcher news, according to the Shandong Cyber Police public account, a man from Liaoning, Qu, became an offline U coin dealer after posting job information online and took a 3% cut from each transaction based on the cash received. He was arrested by the police during a transaction in September, with 217,000 yuan in illicit funds seized.After investigation, the suspect Qu confessed that he had committed crimes related to U coin transactions twice this year, earning 217,000 yuan in cash from these transactions, with his cut being over 6,000 yuan. The upper-level dealer's request for him to act as a U dealer was merely a facade; in reality, it was to withdraw money from the so-called "clients," who were all victims of their telecom network fraud. Currently, the suspect Qu has been criminally detained by the police, and the case is under further investigation.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, Green United promoter Kristoffer Krohn filed a motion on October 24 in the U.S. District Court for Utah, requesting the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals to rule on the SEC's allegations in a $18 million cryptocurrency mining fraud case. Krohn argues that the SEC's application of securities law is incorrect, claiming that the company is selling high-performance computing hardware rather than securities.Previously reported, U.S. District Court Judge Ann Marie McIff Allen dismissed the defendants' motion to dismiss, stating that the SEC's allegations of unregistered securities sales are "well-supported."

ChainCatcher news, on October 25, the Ministry of Public Security held a special press conference in Beijing to report on the effectiveness of the measures taken by the national public security organs to combat and rectify ethnic asset unfreezing fraud crimes.Zhou Qiancheng, head of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Ningbo Public Security Bureau in Zhejiang Province, introduced that at the beginning of this year, Ningbo public security organs discovered that local residents were participating in the "China International Plum Blossom Association" ethnic asset unfreezing fraud project. Upon investigation, it was found that the suspects established an illegal organization called "China International Plum Blossom Association" as bait with high pension returns, recruiting participants from all over the country, and collecting fees under the names of "membership fees," "venue fees," "certificate fees," and "personal income tax," using virtual currency to launder money and illegally profit. The involved funds have been confirmed to exceed 58 million yuan.Currently, the case is still under further investigation.

ChainCatcher news, according to Hong Kong media East Net, a South Korean man purchased USDT for 700,000 HKD through an intermediary yesterday, but did not receive the cryptocurrency at the exchange shop, suspected of being scammed. The Hong Kong police arrived to investigate and classified the case as "obtaining property by fraudulent means."It is understood that the exchange shop claimed to have paid for the cryptocurrency involved in this case through a third party.