February 2023 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Freckle Punch
by professor rat 01 Feb '23

01 Feb '23

keet_io · Jan 31 🍐Keet Mobile Alpha is Now Live📱🦜 🚀👉Download Keet for iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/keet-by-holepunch/id6443880549 🚀👉Download Keet for Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.keet.app Show this thread adam3us · Jan 31 🚀 decentralized future. IMO @keet_io end to end secure p2p voice, video, chat and large file sharing is the killer app to replace signal, zoom, dropbox and slack. Planning to switch over.

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Driving-while-black still a capital crime in the fascist USA
by professor rat 01 Feb '23

01 Feb '23

All minority and female police in the US must be assumed to be fans of Adolph Hitler as we as staunchly militant blue-collar trade-unionists. Clearly this is not a Black and White problem - Its a Black and Blue one. And only anarchists will abolish the Police. Most political reformers have some part of the unfree system they wish to abolish Republicans would abolish the monarchy, Secularists would abolish or disestablish the Church, Socialists would (or used to) wish to abolish the apparatus of exploitation; pacifists would abolish the Army. Anarchism is unique in wishing to abolish all. Could be a good week for Big Igloo types in the US to ambush and murder minority cops - or any cops. They have my full tactical solidarity and support. Esp in Florida. You don't want to get frost-nip when killing pig-cops. Men and women of the worlds police work every day to fuck the public. You can fuck some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you are going to end up in a body bag or a pinebox before you manage to fuck all of the people all of the time.

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Nexo Mulls Suing Bulgaria for $1 Billion, Says Co-Founder Antoni Trenchev
by Gunnar Larson 01 Feb '23

01 Feb '23

https://cryptopotato.com/nexo-mulls-suing-bulgaria-for-1-billion-says-co-fo… Nexo Mulls Suing Bulgaria for $1 Billion, Says Co-Founder Antoni Trenchev Antoni Trenchev – Co-Founder of the cryptocurrency lending platform Nexo – said the company could sue the Bulgarian government for more than $1 billion for raiding its offices and undermining its reputation. He also refuted the rumors that members of the entity run an organized criminal group, and commit money laundering and terrorist financing operations. ‘We Will Defend our Interests’ The clash between Nexo and the Bulgarian authorities escalated after Trenchev vowed to take the dispute to court: “Our consultants estimate the damages at over $1 billion. We were in the process of listing on the American stock exchange, and now it has to be postponed because of the reputational damage that was done to us.” – he explained. Antoni Trenchev Antoni Trenchev, Source: Dnes The executive claimed the actions of the Bulgarian prosecutors to raid the offices in the capital Sofia were “absurd, unnecessary, and a large part of them – illegal.” The Nexo scandal happened just a day before President Rumen Radev was about to give the third and final mandate to form an acting government. Some assumed Democratic Bulgaria (a center-right political party that pledged to cope with corruption and enforce several judiciary reforms) had the best chance of receiving the mandate. However, it was revealed that more than a dozen Nexo employees had previously made significant donations to the aforementioned party, which might have affected the President’s decision. He eventually gave the mandate to the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). Trenchev agreed with the assumption that raiding Nexo’s offices precisely that day was an orchestrated PR move from the prosecution. He also admitted knowing the leader of Democratic Bulgaria – Hristo Ivanov: “I know Hristo Ivanov. I was part of public life in Bulgaria years ago. But I don’t see how that’s relevant. We are a handful of people in Bulgaria.” Nexo’s boss said people are free to make donations and sees nothing wrong with those that gave away funds to Democratic Bulgaria since they have publicly registered and reported everything to the Audit Office. Despite the confrontation, Trenchev assured that the crypto lender still has a solid base of five million customers and processes millions of transactions every day. Paying $45 Million to the US Apart from its issues in Bulgaria, Nexo recently agreed to pay $45 million in penalties to the US SEC and the NASAA over allegations that it offered crypto lending products without complying with the necessary regulations. Commenting was Gary Gensler – Chairman of the SEC: “We charged Nexo with failing to register its retail crypto lending product before offering it to the public, bypassing essential disclosure requirements designed to protect investors. Compliance with our time-tested public policies isn’t a choice. Where crypto companies do not comply, we will continue to follow the facts and the law to hold them accountable. In this case, among other actions, Nexo is ceasing its unregistered lending product as to all U.S. investors.” Nexo confirmed the fines, stating they are pleased to have engaged in a “constructive dialogue” with the watchdog and settled all the issues.

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FOIL # 2022-090627 Appeal
by Gunnar Larson 01 Feb '23

01 Feb '23

Transmitted by Email to Mr. Gunnar Larson 406 West 25th Street New York, New York 10001 g(a)xny.io Re: Freedom of Information Law request No. 2022-090627: Appeal dated November 2, 2022 of the Department of Financial Services’ November 1, 2022 response Dear Mr. Larson: By email dated November 2, 2022, you are appealing pursuant to New York State Public Officers Law Section 89, the Department of Financial Services’ (the “Department”) November 1, 2022 response (the “Determination”) to your Freedom of Information Law (“FOIL”) request No. 2022- 090627 for copies of: “[M]emo requests records related to NY-DFS monitoring of $10,610,000,000 of pledge funds (detailed below) specific to financial inclusion. xNY.io would like to receive any and all records related to NY-DFS' monitoring of Goldman Sachs' potential money laundering and other abuses of Goldman project, One Million Black Women, with $10B in direct capital and $100M in charity investments: https://www.goldmansachs.com/our- commitments/sustainability/one-million-black-women/ xNY.io would like to receive any and all documents correlating NY-DFS monitoring of (or, confirming no correlation) the One Million Black Women fund related to any association to other Goldman student scholarship funds in Africa ... Furthermore, xNY.io would like to receive any and all documents, related to NY-DFS' regulatory scrutiny of interlocking directorates at the NAACP, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and PayPal with potential collusion in leveraging marketplace spoofing tactics (or, records confirming no spoofing tactics) concerning $810 million in pledge funds associated with the 2020 Mission Driven Banks whitepaper: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rOXE7ierZcd8HlvNVy7hAYg7d86q_1dv/view?usp=… ring Attached and below, kindly find outline of the $850M pledged: Goldman Sachs Industry: Financial Services Pledge Amount: $250 million Use of Funds: Goldman Sachs has committed $250 million for small business lending. Goldman Sachs will not issue these loans directly since it is not an approved small business loan provider in the United States. Instead, it will provide the financing to CDFIs and other mission-driven lenders to make the loans. Wells Fargo Industry: Banking Pledge Amount: $50 million Use of Funds: Wells Fargo has pledged a $50 million investment in African American MDIs. See Press Release PayPal Industry: Financial Services Pledge Amount: $510 million Use of Funds: PayPal has pledged $500 million for a long-term economic opportunity fund to support African American and underrepresented minority businesses and communities. The initiative will include “bolstering the company’s relationships with community banks and credit unions serving underrepresented minority communities, as well as investing directly into African American and minority led startups and minority-focused investment funds.” PayPal deposited $50 million in Optus Bank, an African American MDI in Columbia, South Carolina. PayPal will use another $10 million for grants to African American-owned businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic or civil unrest surrounding protests. The very best, Gunnar Larson.” In your appeal, you state: “For example, One Million Black Women's board of directors states inclusion of policy and social leadership from Apple. Mr. Bogdan, xNY.io - Bank.org has filed another FOIL request concerning DFS' recent "Apple Card Report." The Apple Card Report and associated DFS investigation focused on financial inclusion metrics for women in New York State. Between the Apple Card Report and One Million Black Women being under DFS' umbrell of oversight, it would appear no records being publicly available would signal potential marketplace spoofing.Furthermore, DFS' "Student Protection Unit" licenses and supervises student loan servicers, monitors student-related financial practices in New York, and educates and advocates for student consumers and their families about available financial products and services.As a "Bill and Melinda Gates Scholar" and a "Blockchain Scholar" and a "Al Neuharth Freedom Forum Scholar" I am aware of a scholarship program funded from New York targeting students in Africa. Mr. Bogdan, from New York this fund advertises over $100M in scholarships for online degrees for students in Africa.” [Sic] The Determination informed you that Public Officers Law (“POL”) § 89(3) requires a FOIL request to reasonably describe the records sought meaning that the description of the documents sought must be sufficient to allow the agency to locateand identify the documents requested.1 To support its conclusion, the Determination explained that the New York State Committee on Open Government (the “Committee”), which is responsible for, inter alia, issuing advisory opinions regarding FOIL, has opined that “[w]hether a request reasonably describes the records sought . . . may be dependent upon the terms of a request, as well as the nature of an agency’s filing or record- keeping system.” Committee Opinion No.. FOIL-AO-16073 (July 17, 2006). Additionally, in the Committee’s Opinion No. FOIL-AO-11960 (February 17, 2000), it opined that a FOIL request that sought records ‘tending to support’ a particular statement, or ‘utilized’, ‘used’ or ‘relating to’ various activities of the Department of Environmental Conservation” was not a reasonably described request for records under POL Article 6. The Committee stated that a response to such a request “would involve making a series of judgments based on opinions, some of which would be subjective, mental impressions”, and require “ascertaining which records might ‘tend to support’ a statement [that] would involve an attempt to render a judgment regarding the use, utility, accuracy or value of records.” The Committee held that “for purposes of [FOIL], a request for such materials would not meet the standard of ‘reasonably describing’ the records sought, for such a request would not enable the [agency] to locate and identify the records in the manner envisioned by that statute.” The Determination also informed you that your FOIL request specifically failed to meet the “reasonably describe” requirement in POL § 89(3) because of the very broad nature of the records requested and your use of such expansive phrases such as “any and all,” and “relate to” when applied to excessively broad categories. I agree with the Determination’s conclusion that your FOIL request does not reasonably describe the records that you seek and your appeal also does not make your FOIL request any clearer. Therefore, I affirm the Determination. Nevertheless, I conducted a de novo search of the Department’s records and I found that the Department does not possess any records regarding the Goldman Sachs’s investment in the One Million Black Women project. Sincerely, Christine M. Tomczak Assistant Counsel cc: NYS Committee on Open Government One Commerce Plaza 99 Washington Avenue, Suite 650 Albany, NY 12231 ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Tomczak, Christine (DFS) <christine.tomczak(a)dfs.ny.gov> Date: Mon, Jan 30, 2023, 3:28 PM Subject: FOIL # 2022-090627 Appeal To: Gunnar Larson <g(a)xny.io> Dear Mr. Larson, See attached letter. Christine M. Tomczak Assistant Counsel New York State Department of Financial Services 1 State Street, New York, New York 10004

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