January 2023 - cypherpunks@lists.ogf.org

Sullivan & Cromwell, FTX Lead Counsel in Bankruptcy, Says It Has No Adverse Relationships, Despite Representing Four of FTX’s Crypto Exchange Competitors
by Gunnar Larson 10 Jan '23

10 Jan '23

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2023/01/sullivan-cromwell-ftx-lead-counsel-i… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: January 10, 2023 ~ Andrew (Andy) Dietderich, Law Partner at Sullivan & Cromwell Andrew (Andy) Dietderich, Law Partner at Sullivan & Cromwell Sullivan & Cromwell ranks among the oldest law firms in America. It was founded 144 years ago by Algernon Sydney Sullivan and William Nelson Cromwell in Manhattan’s financial district. During the financial bust in the 1930s, Sullivan & Cromwell garnered its reputation for defending Wall Street firms against shareholder lawsuits and antitrust actions. As Wall Street On Parade previously detailed, the firm’s Senior Chairman, Rodge Cohen, paved the way for the Fed’s unprecedented $29 trillion bailout of Wall Street banks after their corrupt activities collapsed the U.S. economy in 2008. And, of course, there was S&C partner Jay Clayton, who was tapped by President Donald Trump to Chair the SEC – and, in our opinion, left markets mired in the worst corruption since 1929. Against that backdrop, one would think that S&C would be attempting to stay off the radar screen of federal regulators and prosecutors. Instead, it has steamrolled its way into Lead Law Firm for bankruptcy proceedings of one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history according to federal prosecutors – the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange, FTX. According to the new CEO of FTX, John Ray, $8 billion of customers’ money is missing. On December 21, FTX and its related bankrupt companies, filed a request with the Bankruptcy Court in Delaware to name Sullivan & Cromwell as the lead law firm for the bankruptcy proceedings. Included in that request was a Declaration from S&C law partner, Andrew (Andy) Dietderich. In that declaration, Dietderich stated that “S&C does not represent any person or entity having an interest adverse to the Debtors.” But in that same document, Sullivan & Cromwell provides a list of its current clients who have a relationship to FTX, as well as a list of former clients who had a relationship to FTX. Stunningly, included on the list of Sullivan & Cromwell’s current clients are four crypto exchanges that are major competitors to FTX. Those competitors are BlockFi, Coinbase, Gemini, and Kracken. Clearly, a major competitor would logically seem to have a built-in motive to see its competitor fail rather than be resuscitated in bankruptcy proceedings. Adding to the unseemliness of the situation, on December 7, Bloomberg News reported that the incoming CEO of Kraken, Dave Ripley, called FTX mastermind, Sam Bankman-Fried, a “fraudster,” while adding that “We have information to know that fraud was committed there.” Two days later, on December 9, the New York Post reported that Coinbase CEO, Brian Armstrong, was blasting the media for being too soft on Sam Bankman-Fried, stating that “I mean, this guy just committed a $10 billion fraud, and why is he getting treated with kid gloves?” (Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to an 8-count criminal indictment brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. His trial is scheduled for October.) In addition to representing two crypto exchange competitors whose CEOs are using the media to bash the former CEO of FTX, Sullivan & Cromwell’s crypto client, BlockFi, has filed a lawsuit arguing that approximately $440 million of shares in stock-trading platform, Robinhood, belong to it as collateral for loans it made to FTX. At the same time, the bankruptcy team for FTX is arguing that the Robinhood shares belong to a related FTX company, Alameda Research, which is also in bankruptcy, and it needs to hold onto the stock while investigating other disputed claims to the shares. (One of those disputed claims has emerged as coming from Sam Bankman-Fried, who says he needs the Robinhood stock to pay his legal defense team.) Adding to the Sullivan & Cromwell rabbit hole of conflicts, Sam Bankman-Fried was previously its client according to its recently filed document with the Delaware Bankruptcy Court. Robinhood itself is listed as a current client to Sullivan & Cromwell. Adding to Sullivan & Cromwell’s tenuous claims to the bankruptcy court that it “is not aware of any conflict between its representation of the Debtors and its representations of its Current Clients or Former Clients that would cause S&C not to be a ‘disinterested person,’” are the large legal fees it had been collecting from FTX during a period when federal prosecutors say FTX was looting its customer accounts and Sam Bankman-Fried was using the money as his personal piggy bank. According to the S&C document filed with the bankruptcy court, prior to it filing the FTX bankruptcy petition, Sullivan & Cromwell collected a “retainer in the amount of $12 million” from the parent of FTX.US. Sullivan & Cromwell further notes in its filing that it received legal fees and expenses totaling $8,564,487.50 from FTX and its related companies from July 2021 to the Petition Date of November 11, 2022. Sullivan & Cromwell has asked the court to bill as follows going forward: “from $1,575 to $2,165 per hour for partners and special counsel, $810 to $1,475 per hour for associates and $425 to $595 per hour for legal assistants.” Adding further to the sinking ground on which Sullivan & Cromwell finds itself, a draft of the testimony that Sam Bankman-Fried was set to deliver before the House Financial Services Committee on December 13 (which never materialized because he was arrested on that date), claims that Sullivan & Cromwell used undue pressure tactics to get him to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Bankman-Fried writes: “Most of that pressure came from Ryne Miller, the General Counsel of FTX US and a former partner at Sullivan & Cromwell (S&C), and Sullivan and Cromwell itself. 2) Sullivan & Cromwell was one of the primary external law firms that represented FTX US as well as FTX International at the time. a) I have 19 pages of screenshots of Sullivan & Cromwell, Mr. Miller, and others I believe were influenced by them, all sent over a two day period, pressuring me to quickly file for Chapter 11. They range from adamant to mentally unbalanced. They also called many of my friends, coworkers, and family members, pressuring them to pressure me to file, some of whom were emotionally damaged by the pressure. Some of them came to me, crying. b) It was only later that I was informed that it was very unusual for such a significant filing to be made so quickly. 3) Sullivan & Cromwell chose John Ray to run the Chapter 11 team.” John Ray is not just running the Chapter 11 team. Ray has been named as the new CEO of FTX. According to Bankman-Fried’s draft testimony to the House Financial Services Committee, “S&C chose John Ray as the new CEO of the Chapter 11 estate; John Ray then chose S&C to represent the Chapter 11 estate.” While Bankman-Fried has not particularly built up a reputation for truth-telling, the assertion that S&C picked the new CEO is supported by the fact that there was no proper corporate mechanism at the time to pick a new CEO. According to John Ray’s testimony to Congress, there was no functioning Board of Directors at FTX.

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Re: Morning Spam
by Undiscussed Groomed for Male Slavery, One Victim of Many 10 Jan '23

10 Jan '23

List Spammer: "I'm having trouble sending emails to this mailing list. I'd better send one off for practice." On Wed, Aug 17, 2022 at 8:20 AM Undiscussed Groomed for Male Slavery, One Victim of Many <gmkarl(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > Person wanders of MCBossCorp Headquarters. > > When they wander out, a bunch of mind controlled cultists, > experimentees, politicians, spies, ceos, homeless folk, etc etc, > wander after them so as to keep participating in the business with > them. > > Person Being Followed By Huge Mass Of Slaves Doing Boss's Shit: "Oh, > hello! How are you?"

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Re: More on the RSA crack by new quantum approach paper
by professor rat 10 Jan '23

10 Jan '23

I don't enjoy becoming the boy who cried quantum wolf since I was a quantum-quackery debunker for years. However - the threat is now verifiable - the threat is real - and it consists of several looming factors, this present paper making up only a tiny part. In the interests of enlightened self-intertest please consider the following . . . 1) Quantum computing advances into the realms of theoretical attacks on RSA 2) Increased will to mobilize the resources by a ' pariah alliance ' that includes Russia, the DPRK and Iran. 3) Increased value of ' the Prize ' - this used to be ME oil - now its Satoshi's stash the public keys for which may be vulnerable. I don't think allowing the enemies of all decent humanity the chance to scoop up a trillion or so dollars is a risk worth running if we don't have to. With a huge effort we can avoid this. Its worth spending hundreds of billions on internet infrastructure anyway since that has huge spin-off benefits. Quantum PKI is expensive at the moment but economies of scale make most things like this more affordable with mass adoption. I'm not saying cypherpunks should be tactical statists either - I don't plan on letting up my primary goals of abolishing all religious and nation-state systems. This is still a second order issue as far as strategy is concerned. So long as anyone looks to c-punks for leadership we're obliged to perform at our highest standard - yes? Bottom line - quantum crypto is the gold standard and the more there is of it the more cryptoanarchy.

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Cryptocurrency: Bitcoin Billionaires Dying Suspiciously
by grarpamp 10 Jan '23

10 Jan '23

Crypto Billionaires' Subsequent Deaths Spark Wild Theories Among The Community https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-billionaires-subsequent-deaths-spark-… Many blamed the deaths on billionaires’ past, while others suspected some form of foul play and even execution... The death of four crypto billionaires within a month has caught the crypto community's attention. These deaths occurred under suspicious circumstances, and more importantly, some of these billionaires have raised alarms about being in danger. 4 crypto billionaires dead in the span of a month. Just before, and during the FTX collapse. Too strange 🤨 🚨 🔊sound ...🧐 pic.twitter.com/ubtpweiJcw — Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) January 9, 2023 The death spiral started towards the end of October when Nikolai Mushegian, the co-founder of MakerDAO, was found dead on a Puerto Rican beach just hours after tweeting that intelligence agencies were after him. The next billionaire to perish was broker Javier Biosca, who was found dead on Nov. 22, 2022, in Estepona. At the time, Biosca was being investigated for the biggest cryptocurrency fraud in Spain. On Nov. 23, 2022, Amber Group's co-founder Tiantian Kullander, was found dead mysteriously in his sleep. Just two days later, Russian crypto billionaire Vyacheslav Taran died in a helicopter crash. Apart from these four suspicious deaths, another death made headlines on Dec. 30 when Mr. Park Mo, the vice president of Vidente, the largest shareholder of South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, was found dead mysteriously in front of his house in the early morning. The four deaths of crypto billionaires within a month’s time gave fuel to several conspiracy theories among the crypto community. One user associated the string of deaths with a mafia-style hit job and said that the “crypto world is taking a page from the mafia handbook.” Another user associated the death spiral with the “central banking hierarchy,” sarcastically saying, “I would definitely not put money on it being connected to the central banking hierarchy. There is no way. They are very trustworthy. 100% no chance.” Others questioned the source of the information but did acknowledge the fact that four deaths in less than a month call for some suspicion. While a few Redditors also pointed towards the possibility of faking deaths, where one user wrote, "I wonder how many of these are people faking their own deaths." Many Redditors also speculated that these billionaires might be living under fake names and they are using death to start a new inning in their life. The deaths of four crypto billionaires are for sure a cause of concern, but the crypto ecosystem is known for its fascination with conspiracy theories. A similar saga erupted in May 2020 when the CEO of defunct crypto exchange QuadrigaCX mysteriously died during a visit to India.

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Say goodnight to Joshimath
by professor rat 10 Jan '23

10 Jan '23

Joshimath: The horrors of life in India's sinking Himalayan town https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-64201536 Reposts come back like a pet semetary

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Cryptocurrency: CensorBanned - TomerStrolight via _log_scale_'s TheBitcoinSpot
by grarpamp 10 Jan '23

10 Jan '23

Another random channel, killed by Google Youtube.

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Cryptocurency: Fixes Theft Extortion Privacy and Efficiency
by grarpamp 10 Jan '23

10 Jan '23

Trump's Tax Returns Show Evil Of The Income Tax by Ron Paul via The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2023/january/09/trum… The final act of the Democrat majority on the House Ways and Means Committee was to make public several years of Donald Trump’s tax returns, which the Committee obtained after a prolonged legal battle. The tax returns confirmed that, despite being one of the richest people in America, Donald Trump paid very little in federal income tax. In fact, in at least one year he paid under a thousand dollars. Trump’s success in minimizing his tax liability without ever being audited is surprising only to those who think IRS audits are mainly used to catch rich “tax cheats.” According to data released by the Syracuse University Transactional Records Clearinghouse, in 2022 lower-income taxpayers were five and half times more likely than millionaires and billionaires to be audited! This is because low-income taxpayers cannot afford to hire top-notch tax attorneys and accountants to help fight the IRS, so they are more likely to give in to the agency’s demands. Despite claims of the Biden Administration and its Congressional allies, the $80 million in additional funds provided to the agency as a part of the misnamed “Inflation Reduction Act” will likely increase the tax agency’s targeting of low- and middle-income Americans. Proponents of a flat tax or national sales tax argue that such a system would ensure millionaires and billionaires paid their “fair share” of taxes. Saying we must all pay our “fair share” of taxes assumes we have a moral obligation to the government that can only be fulfilled by turning over as much of our income as our so-called “public servants” demand. This is not the case. Individuals have a moral duty to support their families, and to support private charities if they wish. They do not have a moral duty to support the government. Tax reform proponents also complain that the current tax code contains too many loopholes that cause economic distortions and inefficiencies. It is true that the current tax system promotes inefficiency, but this is caused by the income tax itself, not the loopholes. Conversely, loopholes actually promote economic efficiency by giving taxpayers the ability to spend more of their money the way they prefer, rather than allowing politicians to spend it. As economist Thomas DiLorenzo put it, “private individuals always spend their own money more efficiently than government bureaucrats do.” Some have expressed concerns that the use of President Trump’s tax records as part of the Democrat and Deep State effort to discredit him sets a dangerous precedent that will lead to increased use of tax information as a political weapon. The sad fact is that ever since its creation, politicians have used the IRS as a tool for punishing political opponents. As an IRS agent told the head of conservative organization who was being audited after calling for the impeachment of then-President Bill Clinton, “What do you expect when you target the President?” The major problem with the income tax, and the reason it must be eliminated, not merely “reformed,” is that it is rooted in the idea that the government has first claim on our income. This idea is incompatible with a free society. Furthermore, the income tax must also be repealed because the force of the IRS, along with the fraud of the Federal Reserve, is one of the two foundations of the welfare-warfare state that erodes our liberty and prosperity. The only way to avoid 1984 is to repeal 1913.

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Nazbols in the workspace
by professor rat 09 Jan '23

09 Jan '23

Matt Taibbi returns to his roots https://twitter.com/AAnswer8/status/1612524534216929282 I'm with the HazMatt company but don't let that fool you I'm really an okay guy.

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Congress critter endorses assassination politics
by professor rat 09 Jan '23

09 Jan '23

>>> emptywheel · 56m Pat Fallon takes the brave stance of endorsing political assassinations, I guess even of members of Congress. Quote Tweet Rep. Pat Fallon @RepPatFallon · 1h I can promise you the world is a safer place without Qasem Soleimani. It shouldn't be difficult for this Administration to admit so. twitter.com/Kredo0/status/… <<< KILL the POTUS ( My 2k sats at todays strike ) https://stiffs.com/celebrity/joebiden No more games ( Cath Trammel )

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Former Judge Arrested for Bribery and Obstruction of Justice
by Gunnar Larson 09 Jan '23

09 Jan '23

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-judge-arrested-bribery-and-obstructio… FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, January 5, 2023 Former Judge Arrested for Bribery and Obstruction of Justice A former local district court judge in Arkansas was arrested today in Little Rock on criminal charges related to his alleged solicitation of sex in exchange for agreeing to take action on a criminal case pending before his court. According to court documents, Thomas David Carruth, 63, of Clarendon, was an elected judge of the Monroe County district court. In April 2022, Carruth allegedly solicited sex from the girlfriend of a defendant in exchange for expediting that defendant’s trial date. Carruth allegedly lied to FBI agents when questioned about the incident. Carruth is charged by indictment with three counts of honest services wire fraud, three counts of using a facility in interstate commerce in furtherance of unlawful activity, one count of bribery, one count of making false statements, and one count of obstruction of justice. If convicted, Carruth faces up to 20 years in prison on the top counts. Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Jonathan D. Ross for the Eastern District of Arkansas, Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, and Special Agent in Charge James A. Dawson of the FBI Little Rock Field Office made the announcement. The FBI Little Rock Field Office is investigating the case with the assistance of the Arkansas State Police. Trial Attorney Lauren Britsch Slater of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney J. William Crow for the Eastern District of Arkansas are prosecuting the case. An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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