New year, same old problems — The FTX saga continues 2023: Law Decodified, Dec. 26-Jan. 2.

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Sam Bankman-Fried, ex-CEO of FTX, has every reason to be optimistic in 2023 after being able to spend Christmas and New Year with his family. Newsletter Ho-hoo-ho Get a Limited Holiday Trait! The United States Department of Justice launched an investigation into the disappearance of $372 million worth of digital assets from FTX, and its U.S.-based subsidiary FTX US. According to SBF, either a former FTX employee (or someone with unauthorized access to a computer of an employee) committed the crime. This occurred just days after Bankman-Fried was freed on a $250 million bond. The Alameda wallet was discovered to have been swapping bits ERC-20s for Ether(ETH) and Tether ($USDT), then these assets were funneled through instant mixers and exchangers. Later, SBF denied any involvement in the funds movement. While government agencies are waiting to sue the FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and the FTX, a group of former customers tried to get their money back first. Four plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in the United States Bankruptcy Court District of Delaware to seek priority rights to digital assets owned by FTX US and FTX.com to their customers. The next episode of the FTX saga will be Jan. 3, when the former CEO of FTX will appear in court. According to reports, he will not plead guilty to the alleged financial frauds in relation to FTX and Alameda. This is not surprising. Cointelegraph was informed by legal counsel that SBF is unlikely to be offered a favorable deal by prosecutors, even if he enters into a plea agreement. Japan will lift the ban on foreign stabilizecoins in 2023. Japanese regulators are rethinking major cryptocurrency restrictions that relate to stablecoins such as Tether and USD Coin. Japan’s new stablecoin regulations will allow local exchanges in Japan to trade stablecoins under the conditions of asset preservation through deposits and a maximum limit on remittance. The Financial Services Agency of Japan stated that Japan will need to have more regulations regarding Anti-Money Laundering controls in order to allow stablecoin distribution. Continue reading Six executives were sentenced for $1.5 billion (2 trillion won), South Korean crypto fraud V Global. V Global was able to entice around 50,000 investors with promises of 300% returns and large payments for referring customers between July 2020-2021. Two high-ranking execs named Mr. Yang (and Mr. Oh respectively) were sentenced to eight years and three years respectively for their roles in defrauding investors. Four other unnamed execs were sentenced to three-year prison terms and five years probation for their role in defrauding investors. Disgruntled investors filed a lawsuit against Gemini founders, accusing them of fraud and violating securities laws. According to the complaint, the Winklevoss brothers refused “to honor any further investor redemptions,” after they stopped those due to Genesis Global Capital’s exposure. The Gemini Earn platform, which was launched last year, was intended to earn as much as 8% interest on crypto holdings.