ChainCatcher news, cryptocurrency company SafeMoon filed for bankruptcy on Thursday, with its executives facing criminal charges in the U.S. SafeMoon stated that it has 50 to 99 creditors, assets between $10 million and $50 million, and debts ranging from $100,000 to $500,000. Unlike other cryptocurrency companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Chapter 7 bankruptcy typically does not have the intention of restructuring and restarting the company. SafeMoon's executives were arrested last month by U.S. officials on charges of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, but founder Kyle Nagy has been charged but has not yet been arrested. The company is also facing a lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission, alleging fraud and violations of securities laws. SafeMoon's SFM has plummeted 42% in the past 24 hours, despite its low liquidity and relatively small market capitalization.

ChainCatcher News, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged SafeMoon LLC, its founder Kyle Nagy, SafeMoon US LLC, and the company's CEO John Karony and CTO Thomas Smith with implementing a large-scale fraud scheme by selling unregistered crypto asset securities. According to the SEC's complaint, the defendants promised to "Safely to the moon" the token price, but they withdrew over $200 million worth of crypto assets from the project and misappropriated investor funds for personal use.According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, a federal indictment was unsealed in Brooklyn federal court, charging SafeMoon CEO Braden John Karony, founder Kyle Nagy, and CTO Thomas Smith with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, accusing them of deceiving investors in SafeMoon (SFM). As the market capitalization of SFM grew to over $8 billion, the defendants fraudulently transferred and misappropriated millions of dollars worth of so-called "locked" SFM liquidity for personal gain. Braden John Karony was arrested in Provo, Utah, Thomas Smith was arrested in Bethlehem, New Hampshire, and Kyle Nagy remains at large.According to the press release, although the defendants publicly denied holding or trading SFM, they repeatedly bought and sold SFM for personal gain, including trading at the peak market price of SFM, resulting in millions of dollars in profits. The defendants concealed the flow of their fraudulent proceeds through numerous private non-custodial crypto wallet addresses, complex trading routes, and anonymous centralized trading accounts, using some of those proceeds to purchase luxury cars and real estate in New Hampshire, Utah, and Florida. For example, Thomas Smith sent 2,900 BNB to a third-party crypto address, worth over approximately $860,000 (traceable to the SFM liquidity pool), to purchase a custom Porsche 911 sports car and NFTs.

ChainCatcher news, the DeFi protocol Safemoon on the BNB Chain has stated that the hacker has agreed to return 80% of the stolen funds, worth $7.1 million, and both parties have agreed to offer the hacker a 20% bounty for the exploit.Previous report, on March 29, a hacker drained nearly $9 million worth of SFM tokens from Safemoon's liquidity pool after exploiting a vulnerability in the smart contract. (CoinDesk)