August 2024 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Key Points From UK Prospectus Regime Reform Consultation
by Gunnar Larson 27 Aug '24

27 Aug '24

Key Points From UK Prospectus Regime Reform Consultation <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1869853?nl_pk=a94fc…> The Financial Conduct Authority's current consultation on U.K. prospectus regime reform proposals, including when a prospectus will be required and the requirements concerning content, is designed to enhance the attractiveness of the U.K.'s capital markets, say lawyers at Sullivan & Cromwell. Read full article » <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1869853?nl_pk=a94fc…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1869853?nl_pk=a94fc…>

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UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
by Gunnar Larson 27 Aug '24

27 Aug '24

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1872875?nl_pk=a94fc…> By Max Austin The past week in London has seen Google sue several Russian media outlets in response to challenges to the tech giant's response to international sanctions, easyGroup bring an intellectual property claim against delivery company Easycargo, and e-money business Nyavo challenge action by the Financial Conduct Authority. Read full article » <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1872875?nl_pk=a94fc…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1872875?nl_pk=a94fc…>

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Italian Prosecutors Open Criminal Probe Into Yacht Sinking
by Gunnar Larson 27 Aug '24

27 Aug '24

Italian Prosecutors Open Criminal Probe Into Yacht Sinking <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1873236?nl_pk=a94fc…> By Christopher Crosby Italian prosecutors said Saturday that they have opened a criminal investigation into the sinking of a superyacht that claimed the lives of seven people including a partner at Clifford Chance LLP and his client, British technology mogul Mike Lynch. Read full article » <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1873236?nl_pk=a94fc…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1873236?nl_pk=a94fc…>

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Ex-Iraqi Minister Foils Reporting Org.'s Defense In Libel Case
by Gunnar Larson 27 Aug '24

27 Aug '24

Ex-Iraqi Minister Foils Reporting Org.'s Defense In Libel Case <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1872921?nl_pk=a94fc…> By Sophia Dourou An Iraqi politician has successfully persuaded a judge to throw out an investigative reporting organization's qualified privilege defense to his defamation claim, with the judge ruling Friday that an article about alleged corruption in the Iraqi oil business did not accurately reflect court proceedings. Read full article » <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1872921?nl_pk=a94fc…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1872921?nl_pk=a94fc…>

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Oligarch Denied Bid To ID Client Linked To $20M Transfer
by Gunnar Larson 27 Aug '24

27 Aug '24

Oligarch Denied Bid To ID Client Linked To $20M Transfer <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1872906?nl_pk=a94fc…> By Lucia Osborne-Crowley A judge refused Friday to let an imprisoned Russian oligarch force a group of companies to disclose the identity of a client who requested a $20 million transfer, saying that revealing the person's identity runs the risk of violating criminal law in Liechtenstein. Read full article » <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1872906?nl_pk=a94fc…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1872906?nl_pk=a94fc…>

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Crypto Co. Consensys Says Texas Is Right For SEC Fight
by Gunnar Larson 27 Aug '24

27 Aug '24

Crypto Co. Consensys Says Texas Is Right For SEC Fight <https://www.law360.com/capitalmarkets/articles/1871225?nl_pk=abe82add-2a33-…> By Aislinn Keely Crypto software firm Consensys Software Inc. told a Texas federal judge that it beat the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to court when it filed a suit seeking a judgment that its MetaMask software does not offend securities laws, and the regulator cannot now "change the playing field" to New York with its later enforcement suit. Response attached | Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/capitalmarkets/articles/1871225?nl_pk=abe82add-2a33-…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/capitalmarkets/articles/1871225?nl_pk=abe82add-2a33-…>

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Mayor Eric Adams NYCCoin Touting
by Gunnar Larson 27 Aug '24

27 Aug '24

---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Gunnar Larson <g(a)xny.io> Date: Fri, May 12, 2023, 2:46 PM Subject: Re: Mayor Eric Adams NYCCoin Touting To: <PressOffice(a)cityhall.nyc.gov> Cc: <district3(a)council.nyc.gov>, Harris, Adrienne A (DFS) < Adrienne.Harris(a)dfs.ny.gov>, <cypherpunks(a)cpunks.org>, Reader, Shaun < sreader(a)curtis.com>, <letitia.james(a)ag.ny.gov> Ms. Camille Joseph Varlack: Today Bloomberg is reporting NYC Pensions attached to ESG share sales: NYC Pension Funds Are Sued for Cutting Fossil-Fuel Stakes https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-12/nyc-pension-funds-are-su… Bloomberg says, "In a new attack against ESG investing, three New York City pension funds were sued for allegedly breaching their fiduciary duty by selling billions of dollars of fossil-fuel assets." Ms. Camille Joseph Varlack, Bloomberg has also recently reported that NYC Mayor’s Chief of Staff Will Keep a Public Board Seat With Possible Conflict https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-13/nyc-mayor-eric-adams-chi… . "The incoming chief of staff to New York City Mayor Eric Adams serves on the board of a publicly owned energy company that does business with the city, a role she plans to keep despite a conflict of interest policy that generally prohibits the practice." xNY.io - Bank.org kindly seeks to know if Directors and Officers of your public board are insured separately to New York City Directors and Officers at the Mayor's office. This is an urgent request given Directors’ and officers’ (D&O) liability insurance is designed to protect the directors, supervisors, and senior management from personal liability that may stem from negligence or misconduct in the course of performing their regular duties. From xNY.io - Bank.org research on important matters such as this last year we collated 37 highlights to "Can D&O insurance improve corporate ESG performance?" for NY-DFS Superintendent Harris: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kYBR93f7fzdculQZk9MGUkPlX23WTKQm/view?usp=… . The seal of New York City may hold further clues to the 37 highlights above. Knowing insights into your public company officer insurance and the City of New York's D&O policies may hold exclusions to your past New York State ethics role. The Mayor's Office may be inclined to confirm D&O coverage from the past State, Plubic and now City roles. Sending you the very best regards. Thank you, Gunnar Gunnar Larson - xNY.io - Bank.org MSc - Digital Currency MBA - Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ip) G(a)xNY.io +1-917-580-8053 On Fri, Mar 10, 2023, 4:00 PM Gunnar Larson <g(a)xny.io> wrote: > 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. > > > 1. > > 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. > 2. > > 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). > 3. > > 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 <http://www.xny.io> - Bank.org > <http://bank.org>MSc > <https://www.unic.ac.cy/blockchain/msc-digital-currency/?utm_source=Google&u…> > - Digital Currency > MBA > <https://www.unic.ac.cy/business-administration-entrepreneurship-and-innovat…> > - Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ip) > G(a)xNY.io +1-917-580-8053 >

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Fwd: xNY.io - Bank.org | DOJ Memo #2 - Goldman Sachs Deferred Prosecution Agreement
by Gunnar Larson 27 Aug '24

27 Aug '24

---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Gunnar Larson <g(a)xny.io> Date: Mon, May 27, 2024, 2:25 AM Subject: xNY.io - Bank.org | DOJ Memo #2 - Goldman Sachs Deferred Prosecution Agreement To: <cypherpunks(a)cpunks.org> We refuse to lie to our friends in France, London, Cyprus, Australia, Turkey, Germany and Hong Kong. Gunnar ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Gunnar Larson <g(a)xny.io> Date: Mon, May 6, 2024, 3:41 PM Subject: xNY.io - Bank.org | DOJ Memo #2 - Goldman Sachs Deferred Prosecution Agreement To: <cypherpunks(a)cpunks.org> https://docs.google.com/document/d/10BYgCtCf9F7A4YnhN792cTBU6P-pfdaOg0UTRbt… February 1, 2022 BY ELECTRONIC MAIL Mr. John Marzulli United States Department of Justice Eastern District of New York 271 Cadman Plaza East Brooklyn New York, 11201 John.Marzulli(a)usdoj.gov Re: Memo #2 - Goldman Sachs Deferred Prosecution Agreement <https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/file/1329926/download> Dear Mr. Marzulli: The Department of Justice has yet to respond to Memo #1 with our recent inquiry <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OsxfjN3TUepftKklopkQDSMwFWstWozuku4IPPu…> to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad Deferred Agreement. Goldman Sachs' Deferred Prosecution Agreement <https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/goldman-sachs-resolves-foreign-bribery…> with the United States of America is in potential breach, with ethical enforcement being concerned. Memo #2 aims to associate the malfeasance in Malaysia with the Middle East. The Bank of London vs. The Bank of London and the Middle East - November 30, 2021 two New York based firms lead investment in The Bank of London based in the United Kingdom. - July 1, 2007 The Bank of London and the Middle East opened in the United Kingdom. - The Bank of London and the Middle East confirms they have no association with The Bank of London (correspondence referenced here <https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZLYO6qxOX5TIn0kPd69SQbvG-mn0I5R_/view?usp=…> ). The Bank of London seemingly has been funded from New York to irritate the Middle East. Recently, we made 91 highlights of research <https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O2piNMJ3CI0wbfaFW33to3KhgOgZ8-dl/view?usp=…> associated with The Bank of London and the Middle East's recent sale to a firm in Kuwait. Harvey Schwartz is the Chairperson at The Bank of London, after spending over 20 years at Goldman Sachs Group, where he oversaw sales and trading, finance, technology, and operations. He completed his tenure as the firm’s President and Co-Chief Operating Officer. He joined Goldman Sachs in 1997 and subsequently held numerous senior leadership positions including Chief Financial Officer, Global Co-Head of the Securities Division, amongst other positions. He additionally served as a member of the firm’s Management Committee and co-headed its Risk Committee, Steering Committee on Regulatory Reform and Finance Committee. Mr. Schwartz established the firm’s Investment Policy Committee on which he also served as a member. It would appear that Mr. Schwartz has no friendly diplomatic agenda in London banking, potentially looking to profit off of The Bank of London and the Middle East. Furthermore, Goldman Sachs seemingly has a part in the scheme from New York. Bank of London and the Middle East is listed on the NASDAQ, Dubai. - Mr. Marzulli, during a recent telephone discussion together it was your general assessment that the Deferred Agreement in question was self policing. Can you kindly advise at your earliest convenience what (if any) DOJ systems, processes and control mechanisms are in place to monitor the purity of the Deferred Agreement? - Furthermore, if the Deferred Agreement is self-policing, can the DOJ kindly share any and all supporting material information that would prevent the agreement from being violated without the DOJ's general oversight? - Finally, we have made 28 highlights to Deferred Agreement <https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Yx88RMoeLyyfbNK0RtPl4r-m8N21_1Sp/view?usp=…> as a reference resource tool. Memo #1 and Memo #2 both outline instances that correspond with the associated highlight references. We are concerned that potential breaches to the Deferred Agreement are impacting our global enterprise. We are looking forward to learning more about the DOJ’s approach to assessing any potential breaches to the Deferred Agreement’s mandates. Respectfully yours with anticipation, Gunnar Larson - xNY.io <http://www.xny.io> | Bank.org <http://bank.org>MSc <https://www.unic.ac.cy/blockchain/msc-digital-currency/?utm_source=Google&u…> - Digital Currency MBA <https://www.unic.ac.cy/business-administration-entrepreneurship-and-innovat…> - Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ip) G(a)xNY.io +1-646-454-9107

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In the Span of 72 Hours, Four People Tied to a Hewlett-Packard Criminal Case Died in Two Separate Events
by Gunnar Larson 27 Aug '24

27 Aug '24

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2024/08/in-the-span-of-72-hours-four-people-… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: August 26, 2024 ~ Mike Lynch On May 12, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it had extradited from the United Kingdom, Michael Lynch, the former CEO of Autonomy Corporation, to stand trial in the Northern District Court of California, alongside the former Vice President of Finance at Autonomy, Stephen Chamberlain. Among the numerous charges brought by the Justice Department were these: “…between 2009 and 2011, Lynch and Chamberlain, and other co-conspirators, (1) artificially inflated Autonomy’s revenues by backdating written agreements to record revenue in prior periods; recorded revenue on contracts that were subject to side letters or other contingencies that impacted revenue recognition; and improperly recorded revenue for reciprocal or roundtrip transactions…” As part of this alleged scheme to defraud, according to the Justice Department, “…Lynch and Chamberlain caused Autonomy to make materially false and misleading statements directly to HP [Hewlett-Packard] regarding Autonomy’s financial condition, performance, and business during the negotiations between HP and Autonomy leading up to the August 18, 2011, announcement by HP to acquire Autonomy for approximately $11 billion.” It has been reported that Lynch made approximately $800 million on the sale of Autonomy to HP. Both Lynch and Chamberlain were acquitted on all charges on June 7, following a jury trial that lasted three months. Less than two months following the trial, on Saturday, August 17, Chamberlain was out running in Cambridgeshire, England and was hit by a car. Chamberlain died of his injuries after being hospitalized. Two days later, on Monday, August 19, Mike Lynch, Chamberlain’s co-defendant in the Justice Department trial, died when his “unsinkable” 184-foot sailing yacht sunk to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Sicily during a storm that failed to harm other nearby yachts. Making these deaths all the more suspicious, two other individuals involved in the criminal trial died in the sinking of the yacht: the Chair of Morgan Stanley International, Jonathan Bloomer, who had been a witness for the defense; and the attorney for Mike Lynch during the trial, Chris Morvillo, of law firm Clifford Chance. The statistical improbability of four people connected to one criminal case dying within 72 hours in two separate unusual events is raising eyebrows. Equally suspect, there were 22 people on board the yacht with 15 people surviving, including 9 members of the 10-member crew, who made it to a life boat. Other survivors in the life boat included Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares; the Managing Partner of Lynch’s venture capital firm, Invoke Capital, Charlotte Golunshi and her one-year old daughter; and Clifford Chance lawyer Ayla Ronald and her partner, Matthew Fletcher. The seven deceased victims from the sinking of the yacht were Lynch; his 18-year old daughter, Hannah; Bloomer and his wife, Judy; Morvillo and his wife, Neda; and the yacht’s chef, Recaldo Thomas. To put that more starkly, the crew had a 90 percent survival rate while the other passengers had a 58 percent survival rate. Reuters is reporting this morning that Italian prosecutors have opened an investigation and have conducted multiple interviews with the Captain of the yacht, James Cutfield. Maritime law places the safety of the ship, crew and all passengers as the responsibility of the Captain. For unknown reasons, the Captain was able to make it to the lifeboat while six of the seven who died were trapped below deck in cabins or hallways, where their bodies were eventually located by divers. The chef was reportedly found floating in the water. Lynch’s life had been a living hell for the five years before the tragedy on the yacht. Prior to his acquittal in June, he had been living under house arrest for a year in a townhouse in San Francisco, with guards watching his every move. On April 30, 2018, the former CFO of Autonomy, Sushovan Hussain, was separately tried and convicted by the U.S. Department of Justice in the same U.S. District Court that heard the case against Lynch and Chamberlain. Hussain was convicted of one count of conspiracy, fourteen counts of wire fraud and one count of securities fraud involving Autonomy’s sale to Hewlett-Packard. Hussain served five years in prison. Another company in which Lynch’s venture capital firm had invested money following the sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard was Darktrace, a cyber-security firm which was packed with people from the U.K.’s intelligence agency MI5 and the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). In 2023, the short-seller, Quintessential Capital Management, published a lengthy report alleging claims against Darktrace that had a familiar ring to some of the charges brought by the Justice Department against Autonomy executives. Quintessential Capital’s researchers wrote this about Darktrace: “Our opinion is based primarily on numerous transactions we detected during the period leading to DT’s [Darktrace’s] IPO seemingly involving simulated or anticipated sales to phantom end-users through a network of willing resellers. Darktrace seems to have repeatedly used marketing activities to channel funds back into its partners as payment for apparently fictitious purchases. These alleged channel stuffing and round-tripping activities seem to have even involved shell companies in offshore jurisdictions….” Hewlett-Packard is no boy scout either. The company was scandalized in 2006 when Newsweek broke the story that it had spied on its own Board of Directors and journalists, illegally obtaining their phone records in some cases to ascertain with whom they had been in contact.

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Office of Public Affairs | Former Energy Trader for Vitol Inc. Pleads Guilty to International Bribery Scheme | United States Department of Justice
by Gunnar Larson 27 Aug '24

27 Aug '24

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-energy-trader-vitol-inc-pleads-guilty… Between 2017 and 2020, Aguilar, who was a trader in Vitol’s Houston office, and his co-conspirators paid approximately $600,000 in bribes to two senior officials at PPI to obtain numerous contracts for Vitol to supply hundreds of millions of dollars of ethane to PEMEX. To conceal the scheme, Aguilar and his co-conspirators used a series of fake contracts, sham invoices and shell entities incorporated in Curaçao and Mexico. The defendant and his co-conspirators also used alias email accounts to communicate about the scheme and code words, including “shoes,” “medicine,” “invitations,” and “coffee,” to describe the bribes. Aguilar pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and to a violation of the Travel Act. The FCPA conspiracy charge, which was brought by a grand jury in the Southern District of Texas, related to conduct that was initially charged in the Eastern District of New York. As part of his guilty plea, Aguilar consented to transfer the Texas case to New York, to consolidate the cases, and to forfeit $7,129,938. The plea follows Aguilar’s related conviction at trial in February 2024 for conspiracy to violate the FCPA, violating the FCPA, and conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with schemes to bribe Ecuadorian and Mexican officials. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment on the money laundering offense and five years’ imprisonment on each of the other offenses. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. In December 2020, Vitol admitted to bribing officials in Ecuador, Mexico, and Brazil in violation of the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA. Vitol entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of New York. As a part of the resolution, Vitol agreed to pay a combined $135 million in penalties as part of a coordinated resolution with the Department of Justice, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and authorities in Brazil. Seven of the defendant’s co-conspirators have pleaded guilty for their role in the scheme and are awaiting sentencing. These individuals have agreed to forfeit more than $63 million in connection with this and related schemes. FBI Miami’s International Corruption Squad investigated the case. Trial Attorney Clayton P. Solomon and Assistant Chiefs Derek J. Ettinger and Jonathan P. Robell of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, Trial Attorney D. Hunter Smith and Deputy Chief Adam J. Schwartz of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS), and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan P. Lax, Matthew R. Galeotti, and Nick M. Axelrod for the Eastern District of New York, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherin Daniel and Deputy Chief Suzanne Elmilady for the Southern District of Texas are prosecuting the case. The MLARS Special Financial Investigations Unit and Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs also provided substantial assistance. The Criminal Division’s Fraud Section is responsible for investigating and prosecuting FCPA and Foreign Extortion Prevention Act matters. Additional information about the Justice Department’s FCPA enforcement efforts can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal/fraud/fcpa. The Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative is led by a team of dedicated prosecutors in MLARS, in partnership with federal law enforcement agencies, and often with U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, to forfeit the proceeds of foreign official corruption. Individuals with information about possible proceeds of foreign corruption located in or laundered through the United States should contact federal law enforcement or send an email to kleptocracy(a)usdoj.gov or https://tips.fbi.gov/.

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