February 2024 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Adrienne Harris Is Crypto’s Most Powerful Regulator
by Gunnar Larson 04 Feb '24

04 Feb '24

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/03/adrienne-harris-is-cryptos-most-pow… THE MONEY GAME MAR. 30, 2022 Crypto’s Most Powerful Regulator Is Here Adrienne Harris, New York’s financial watchdog, has enormous sway over the industry’s future. Portrait of Kevin T. Dugan By Kevin T. Dugan, staff writer at Intelligencer, who covers money and business Photo: Victor Llorente Thirteen years after the birth of cryptocurrency, it was supposed to be time for Washington to rein it in. Instead, the White House punted, and the Securities and Exchange Commission is still hashing out how it’s going to oversee the $2 trillion industry. State watchdogs have filled that vacuum, making Adrienne Harris, the head of the New York State Department of Financial Services, by default the most powerful crypto regulator in the country. While states such as Florida and Wyoming have adopted a laissez-faire approach to regulation, attracting a sizable chunk of the booming industry, more money and jobs are still flowing into New York than any other city, making it the de facto crypto capital of the U.S. “There’s a misconception that having rigorous regulation turns off innovative companies,” Harris tells me during an hour-long interview at her office looking out onto the Statue of Liberty last month. “That hasn’t been our experience here.” Sign up for Dinner Party A lively evening newsletter about everything that just happened. Enter your email Harris was tapped as the first Black woman to lead DFS last year. She came into her position after a turn working in Silicon Valley and representing Wall Street banks, a résumé that critics have used to paint her as too close to the industries she is regulating. She’s eager to dispel any criticism that she’s soft as a regulator, especially when it comes to crypto. Harris says she’s looking to expand the agency’s remit, hire new regulators, and possibly watch over lending and asset management in decentralized finance, a.k.a. DeFi, one of the fastest-growing crypto industries, which has been prone to very large hacks. The agency’s power over the industry lies mostly with the BitLicense, a required if unloved permit for crypto exchanges to operate within state lines. When it was first introduced in 2014, it was meant to be a model for the country, but the crypto industry has attacked the license for being too strict, limiting what people can trade, and requiring expensive anti-money-laundering operations, which, it should be noted, most traditional financial institutions are required to maintain. For Harris, the problem isn’t that it’s too restrictive — it’s that the process of getting one, which has stretched years for some companies, is too slow. “If you think about the companies that are BitLicensees, and even the companies in the queue, having the imprimatur of ‘Have you passed regulatory muster with a stringent regulatory regime?’ — I think the good actors see that as a good thing,” she says. Created in 2011, DFS has been a regulator feared more than any of its counterparts in other states for the power it has over banks, insurance companies, and a host of other financial institutions. It brought ambitious money-laundering cases against banks like BNP Paribas (a settlement that resulted in several bankers losing their jobs), fined Deutsche Bank for its relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, and levied a $2.5 million fine on the National Rifle Association for selling its so-called murder insurance in the state. “DFS has a lot of teeth, and the sky’s the limit if the agency is exercised properly,” says state Sen. John Liu of Queens, a member of the state finance committee. “DFS compelled multinational banks to cough up $15 billion. We were able to build a couple bridges with that money. We still have much infrastructure in the state of New York that might benefit from DFS’s vigorous functions.” But part of DFS’s mandate is to keep the state’s economy healthy, a balancing act when it means protecting consumers from predatory, but also lucrative, companies. “For me, it’s an opportunity to bring my lived experience as a woman of color,” Harris says. So far, she has established the agency’s first climate division, frozen fees for check-cashing businesses that target the poor, and looked into non-bank lenders for evidence of redlining. “It’s important to me that those voices are at the table and being heard,” she says. “I bring a sort of pragmatism. It’s one thing to sit in our offices with nice views and make policy, but it’s another thing, in my mind, to really run the water through the pipes.” In 2008, Harris joined Sullivan & Cromwell, a law firm so close with Goldman Sachs that it has long sent its lawyers to work in-house at the investment bank. It was there that she worked for H. Rodgin “Rodge” Cohen, then the law firm’s chairman and the so-called trauma surgeon of Wall Street. Cohen remembers Harris working late into the night writing near-flawless memorandums so they’d be ready on his desk in the morning. “She just brought what I’d call a penetrating intelligence to the problems that were at hand,” Cohen tells me. “Many of the problems we get, you cannot just look up the answer in a book. It’s a question of judgment and trying to apply rules written often for other circumstances.” Still, it was clear that corporate law wasn’t for her. “Her heart was really in public service,” he says. From there, she went on to work for the Treasury Department, then the Obama White House, where she focused on policies around the then-upstart fintech industry. After the administration turned over, Harris took a spin through the revolving door between government and business. Her New York financial-disclosure forms show a superabundance of work with the tech and finance industries: She sat on the boards of six companies and nonprofits, including LendingClub, which had recently settled with the Federal Trade Commission over claims it had misled users on fees. She also advised 11 companies, owned two, and invested in or on behalf of two others. “I just thought, well, if you’re going to make policy about it, you should do the thing — run the company, build the company,” she says. “At the time, I felt very comfortable going to a start-up because I thought, well, coming out of government, you’re not making a ton of money. And if this start-up blows up, I’ll probably be no worse off, financially speaking.” It seems Harris did well enough. One real-estate tech company at which she worked went public last summer, and Harris appears to have cashed out. Since the disclosures were for 2020, they didn’t include her stake in Forethought, a private A.I.-based customer-service company that announced in December that it had attracted such investors as Harris, Ashton Kutcher, and Gwenyth Paltrow. When I asked her about Forethought, Harris said her investment in the company predated her time at DFS, that all her investments are now in a blind trust, and that she would recuse herself from any dealings with companies she has conflicts with. So when Hochul appointed Harris to lead DFS, she was attacked by the left. Zephyr Teachout and Cynthia Nixon both criticized Harris as being insufficiently independent, thanks to her connections in tech and finance. The American Prospect dug up a speech in which she characterized regulators as looking for “no-nos” and “icky things.” Harris has also advised the cash-advance companies Earnin, Brigit, and SmartWage (based in South Africa), according to her disclosures. In 2019, DFS led a multi-state investigation into the cash-advance industry over whether they created debt traps and state banking and anti-usury laws, since equivalent interest rates for the fees they charged would reach as high as 469 percent. A person directly familiar with the investigation told me that Harris’s predecessor was presented with multiple options for furthering the investigation, including reaching a settlement, but ultimately never made a decision. DFS wouldn’t comment. So, of all the companies to work for, why them? “My role, when I was working with those companies, was not to dictate price pricing or business model. It was more to say: Here’s how regulators would view this. Here’s why you should engage with them. Let me help you engage with them and figure out these issues and how you can also serve customers. Less pricing and business model, but, as an adviser who’s not in the day-to-day, helping to sort of guide a culture and mentality,” she says. Did she disagree with those arguing that these companies created debt traps for consumers? “I think it’s hard to paint with a broad brush,” she says. “I think we should always always be careful with any new products and services, that they are affordable and non-predatory, not creating debt traps, and that they’re solving a real problem for consumers. And I think some do that and some don’t.” Last summer, after Andrew Cuomo resigned as governor, many of his appointees went with him, including then-superintendent of DFS, Linda Lacewell. Soon Harris’s old boss, Cohen, had recommended her to Kathryn Wylde, the president and CEO of the Partnership for New York, a business-advocacy group that has advised DFS. “The folks at Sullivan & Cromwell thought that Adrienne would be a terrific candidate to field for that job given her eight years of experience in the Obama administration and the fact that she was somebody who understood industry,” Wylde says. “On the theory that a regulator should know something about the industries they’re regulating — which may be a novel concept but struck me as a valid one — I thought she sounded like a terrific candidate.” Harris sailed through her confirmation, with 63 senators voting for her and nine against. “When the regulated are complaining that the regulator is being too aggressive, that generally means the regulator is doing their job.” said Michael Gianaris, the state senator from Queens who voted against Harris’s nomination and, in 2019, tanked Amazon’s proposed HQ2 in New York. “Cuomo was a prick, and the people he appointed tended to share his bare-knuckles approach to the world. In some cases, that’s actually not a bad thing.” While the crypto industry doesn’t appear to be getting the reprieve it had been hoping for, other industries will surely lobby Harris to make similar gestures toward the business community. For instance, Wylde says that insurance companies are hoping that Harris will lower the reserves they are required to have on hold, which they claim are higher than what’s required by other states. “There are some long-standing issues that the industry has that they feel that they’ve got a fresh start on with Adrienne’s leadership,” she says. Still, crypto is going to play a major part in how Harris’s tenure is defined. “It’s clear that New York is doing well now and the companies that came and started here five to ten years ago are doing well,” says Matt Homer, a former deputy superintendent at DFS and the current executive-in-residence at the venture-capital fund NYCA Partners. “It’s not totally clear what the future will look like five to ten years from now.” New York is the home base for major exchanges such as Coinbase and Gemini, and it’s also home to shady NFT front-running scandals and alleged rapping billionaire money launderers. That such a volatile industry could implode and damage New York’s economy is apparent. “I understand that other states may have gone the opposite way of the BitLicense, but there are things we can do here in New York that will hopefully inform the federal regulators as they continue to think about this space,” Harris said. “It’s a new world with crypto, with DeFi, with NFTs.”

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85 Highlights to "SAFEGUARDING HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS PRACTICAL GUIDANCE FOR INVESTORS"
by Gunnar Larson 04 Feb '24

04 Feb '24

Gunnar Larson (in memory of Brody Larson, on his 14th Birthday...) collates -- 85 Highlights to SAFEGUARDING HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS PRACTICAL GUIDANCE FOR INVESTORS: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ecoN8I6SNmM6uH3eoi3f1Cp7C-c8ffuo/view?usp=… . Boomer, wherever you are your daddy loves you ❤️

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NY Banks Must Vet Execs For 'Character,' Regulator Says
by Gunnar Larson 04 Feb '24

04 Feb '24

NY Banks Must Vet Execs For 'Character,' Regulator Says <https://www.law360.com/fintech/articles/1788397?nl_pk=d2b3e7ef-ab62-4a62-80…> By Sarah Jarvis New York's financial regulator on Monday issued guidance advising banks to vet the "character and fitness" of their top brass, with the state agency stressing that compromised directors or officers can put financial institutions at risk. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/fintech/articles/1788397?nl_pk=d2b3e7ef-ab62-4a62-80…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/fintech/articles/1788397?nl_pk=d2b3e7ef-ab62-4a62-80…>

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Report from the anarchist federation
by pro2rat＠yahoo.com.au 03 Feb '24

03 Feb '24

https://www.anarchistnews.org/content/czechia-activities-anarchist-federati… Reposts not grarpamps national anarchist garbage as bad as Semich Cointelpro

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BitLicense Honesty Video
by Gunnar Larson 03 Feb '24

03 Feb '24

BitLicense Honesty Video: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0wn9TctRNs/?igsh=NW5ndTgydjM5ZWNq

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Fwd: [EXTERNAL] Re: [OpenRecords] Request FOIL-2023-836-00688 Closed - Mayor Eric Adams and Bitcoin
by Gunnar Larson 03 Feb '24

03 Feb '24

They are saying below, we may need to go to the Supreme Court. "...may be appealed to the Supreme Court in a proceeding for review pursuant to CPLR Article 78." Gunnar ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: FoilAppeals (DOF) <FoilAppeals(a)finance.nyc.gov> Date: Fri, Dec 22, 2023, 3:46 PM Subject: RE: [EXTERNAL] Re: [OpenRecords] Request FOIL-2023-836-00688 Closed - Mayor Eric Adams and Bitcoin To: Gunnar Larson <g(a)xny.io> Cc: Best, Joan (DOF) <BestJ(a)finance.nyc.gov>, FOIL <DOF-FOIL(a)finance.nyc.gov > Dear Gunnar Larson, I received your appeal email below regarding FOIL 2023-836-00688, which was submitted on July 16, 2023, and acknowledged by DOF on July 21, 2023. After informing you of extensions, on December 15, 2023, DOF’s Records Access Officer sent the response below informing you that “a diligent search for records responsive to your request did not locate any such records. Accordingly, your request is denied.” On December 15, you sent this appeal. I have reviewed your appeal. DOF’s FOIL office conducted a diligent search for responsive records of the New York City Department of Finance. As the December 15 email explained, the search did not identify any responsive records of the Department of Finance. To further address your question below, DOF’s Records Access Officer did not withhold or redact any responsive records. As a result, I affirm the determination of the DOF Records Access Officer. Pursuant to Public Officers Law §89(4)(b), a denial of a FOIL appeal may be appealed to the Supreme Court in a proceeding for review pursuant to CPLR Article 78. Thank you, Dara Dara Jaffee FOIL Appeals Officer Assistant Commissioner, Legal Affairs NYC Department of Finance 375 Pearl Street, 30th Floor New York, NY 10038 FoilAppeals(a)finance.nyc.gov *From:* Gunnar Larson <g(a)xny.io> *Sent:* Friday, December 15, 2023 3:11 PM *To:* FOIL <DOF-FOIL(a)finance.nyc.gov>; FoilAppeals (DOF) < FoilAppeals(a)finance.nyc.gov> *Cc:* cypherpunks(a)cpunks.org; Harris, Adrienne A (DFS) < Adrienne.Harris(a)dfs.ny.gov>; letitia.james(a)ag.ny.gov; Corey Johnson < district3(a)council.nyc.gov>; Reader, Shaun <sreader(a)curtis.com>; PressOffice(a)cityhall.nyc.gov *Subject:* [EXTERNAL] Re: [OpenRecords] Request FOIL-2023-836-00688 Closed - Mayor Eric Adams and Bitcoin You don't often get email from g(a)xny.io. Learn why this is important <https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification> *CAUTION:* This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Forward suspect email to phish(a)oti.nyc.gov as an attachment (Click the More button, then forward as attachment). Dear Department of Finance (DOF): xNY.io - Bank.org kindly elects to appeal this response. xNY.io - Bank.org aims to understand if DOF is suggesting no New York City records are available. Or, if DOF has redacted in part or withheld due diligence records in entirety concerning "Mayor Adams to Receive First Paycheck in Cryptocurrency... Paycheck to Be Automatically Converted Into Bitcoin and Ethereum" quoted by NYC.gov. >From our research, there are several New York City records available. For example: https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/041-22/mayor-adams-receive-fir… Furthermore, New York City's press office has said "Cryptocurrencies are at the forefront of Web3innovations and can bring greater accessibility to financial services." Mayor Eric Adams also touted New York City's approach to digital asset innovation on Bloomberg radio: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-03/mayor-elect-eric-adams-t… According to Bloomberg, "New York City Mayor-Elect Eric Adams said he wanted to turn New York into a crypto-friendly city and wagered a “friendly competition” with the mayor of Miami, who was the first to set up a so-called CityCoin cryptocurrency. “He has a MiamiCoin that is doing very well -- we’re going to look in the direction to carry that out,” Adams said in a Wednesday interview on Bloomberg Radio. He vowed to “look at what’s preventing the growth of Bitcoin..."" As a matter of urgency, xNY.io - Bank.org kindly requests DOF's response by December 31, 2023. Warm regards, Gunnar Gunnar Larson -- Gunnar Larson - xNY.io - Bank.org MSc - Digital Currency MBA - Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ip) G(a)xNY.io +1-917-580-8053 New York, New York 10001 On Fri, Dec 15, 2023, 12:23 PM <donotreply(a)records.nyc.gov> wrote: The Department of Finance (DOF) has *closed* your FOIL request FOIL-2023-836-00688 <https://a860-openrecords.nyc.gov/request/view/FOIL-2023-836-00688> for the following reasons: - A diligent search for records responsive to your request did not locate any such records. Accordingly, your request is denied. You may appeal the decision to deny access to material that was redacted in part or withheld in entirety by contacting the agency's FOIL Appeals Officer: foilappeals(a)finance.nyc.gov <foilappeals(a)finance.nyc.gov?subject=FOIL-2023-836-00688%20-%20Appeal> within 30 days. Please find the attached memo with reference footnotes. -- March 10, 2023 BY ELECTRONIC MAIL Ms. Camille Joseph Varlack Office of the Mayor of New York City City Hall Park, 260 Broadway New York, NY 10007 United States PressOffice(a)CityHall.NYC.gov Re: Mayor Eric Adams NYCCoin Touting Dear Ms. Joseph Varlack: Today’s memo is to kindly submit xNY.io - Bank.org's inquiry into Mayor Eric Adams' promotion of NYCCoin. The federal securities laws are clear that any celebrity or individual who promotes digital assets must disclose the nature, source and amount of compensation they received in exchange for the promotion. As a matter of ethics, risk and compliance associated with digital asset innovation, xNY.io asks if NYCCoin promotion by the Mayor of New York City damaged the market for the xNY digital asset (by, for example, devaluing it through parody or sealed via embossed criticism). xNY.io - Bank.org concerns made above have evidentiary support to interlocking director and officer conflicts recognized by the Department of Justice as potential threats that stifle individual and corporate freedom. Ms. Joseph Varlack, as a matter relating to working at one of the world's most ethical companies, famous for risk management and corporate governance, and as an internationally recognized Blockchain Scholar, I must adhere to federal securities laws. As such, I classify Mayor Adams as an individual who promoted the digital asset NYCCoin and must disclose the nature, scope, and amount of compensation associated. A failure to disclose this information may violate the anti-touting provisions of the federal securities laws. Mayor Adams' making these endorsements may also be liable for potential violations of the anti-fraud provisions of the federal securities laws, for participating in an unregistered offer and sale of securities, and for acting as unregistered brokers. xNY.io - Bank.org respectfully requests the Office of the Mayor of New York City to respond to this request by Wednesday March, 15 2023 by Noon EST. Respectfully yours with appreciation, Gunnar Larson - xNY.io - Bank.org MSc - Digital Currency MBA - Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ip) G(a)xNY.io +1-917-580-8053 ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: <donotreply(a)records.nyc.gov> Date: Fri, Jul 21, 2023, 10:22 AM Subject: [OpenRecords] Request FOIL-2023-836-00688 Acknowledged To: <g(a)xny.io> The Department of Finance (DOF) has acknowledged your FOIL request FOIL-2023-836-00688. You can expect a response on or about Tuesday, October 17, 2023. Additional Information: Hello, we are extending your request because our office needs more time to fulfill your request. We are finding and reviewing your requested records and you should hear from us by the date indicated above. We appreciate your patience as we subject each page of each record to legal review while processing other FOIL requests.Thank you for your continued patience. Please visit FOIL-2023-836-00688 to view additional information and take any necessary action. Your request FOIL-2023-836-00688 has been successfully submitted to the Department of Finance (DOF). The details of your request are shown below. Request Title: Mayor Eric Adams and Bitcoin Request Description: Dear Madam or Sir: Mayor Adams announced paychecks will automatically be converted into cryptocurrency via Coinbase, a secure online platform for buying, selling, transferring, and storing digital currency. https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/041-22/mayor-adams-receive-fir… xNY.io kindly requests access to records concerning the payment structure related to this payment vehicle. Additionally, we would like any records concerning the City’s due diligence of the online payment platform's compliance to New York State investigation. Thank you, Gunnar Larson 917-580-8053 Requester's Contact Information Name: Gunnar Larson Title: Not provided Organization: Not provided Email: g(a)xny.io Phone Number: Not provided Fax Number: Not provided Street Address (line 1): 406 West 25th Street Street Address (line 2): Not provided City: New York State: NY Zip Code: 10001 You can view the request and take any necessary action at the following webpage: https://a860-openrecords.nyc.gov/request/view/FOIL-2023-836-00688

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911 Call Scrutiny Should Not Be Used To Identify Suspects
by Gunnar Larson 03 Feb '24

03 Feb '24

911 Call Scrutiny Should Not Be Used To Identify Suspects <https://www.law360.com/access-to-justice/articles/1793107?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6f…> Though the use of 911 call analysis to identify suspects continues to spread across the country, this scientifically unproven method opens the door to wrongful convictions, so prosecutors should review investigations that relied on the technique, and lawmakers should ban it nationwide, say Miriam Krinsky at Fair and Just Prosecution and Isabelle Cohn at the Innocence Project. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/access-to-justice/articles/1793107?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6f…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/access-to-justice/articles/1793107?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6f…>

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Seattle Settles BLM Protesters' Police Brutality Suit For $10M
by Gunnar Larson 03 Feb '24

03 Feb '24

Seattle Settles BLM Protesters' Police Brutality Suit For $10M <https://www.law360.com/access-to-justice/articles/1790214?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6f…> By Rachel Riley The city of Seattle has agreed to a $10 million settlement to end a lawsuit brought by more than 50 protesters who say they were brutalized by its police force during Black Lives Matter demonstrations in the summer of 2020. 3 documents attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/access-to-justice/articles/1790214?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6f…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/access-to-justice/articles/1790214?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6f…>

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Birmingham, Ala., Hit with $4.5M Verdict Over Police Shooting
by Gunnar Larson 03 Feb '24

03 Feb '24

Birmingham, Ala., Hit with $4.5M Verdict Over Police Shooting <https://www.law360.com/access-to-justice/articles/1793172?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6f…> By Jonathan Capriel An Alabama federal jury hit the city of Birmingham with a $4.5 million verdict over a fatal police shooting, finding that a city officer violated the constitutional rights of two people when he fired upon them while they were immobilized in a vehicle at the end of a car chase. Verdict attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/access-to-justice/articles/1793172?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6f…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/access-to-justice/articles/1793172?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6f…>

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High Court Will Review Okla. Inmate's Innocence Claim
by Gunnar Larson 03 Feb '24

03 Feb '24

High Court Will Review Okla. Inmate's Innocence Claim <https://www.law360.com/access-to-justice/articles/1788412?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6f…> By Katie Buehler The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review the case of an Oklahoma death row inmate who defense attorneys and the state's attorney general agree was wrongfully convicted of the 1997 killing of an Oklahoma City man because prosecutors failed to turn over critical information about their key witness. 4 documents attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/access-to-justice/articles/1788412?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6f…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/access-to-justice/articles/1788412?nl_pk=153d4a8a-6f…>

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