December 2023 - cypherpunks@lists.ogf.org

Movie: RUIN, An Old SBF Favorite Becomes Crypto’s Next Big Thing
by Gunnar Larson 21 Dec '23

21 Dec '23

An Old SBF Favorite Becomes Crypto’s Next Big Thing https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-12-21/bankman-fried-favorite-s… The devastating collapse of FTX last year swept up one of the crypto industry’s hottest blockchains: Solana. Hailed for its high speeds and cheap transaction fees, the blockchain previously championed by Sam Bankman-Fried saw the price of its SOL token plummet in the wake of his FTX crypto exchange’s implosion.

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Arizona Man Arrested for Making Online Threats Against Federal Agents and Employees
by Gunnar Larson 21 Dec '23

21 Dec '23

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/arizona-man-arrested-making-online-threats-a… For Immediate Release Office of Public Affairs Michael Lee Tomasi, 37, of Rio Verde, Arizona, was arrested on Friday after a grand jury indicted him on three counts of threats against a federal official and three counts of making interstate threats. According to court documents, from May 2021 through November 2023, while living in Colorado and Arizona, Tomasi used a social media platform to express a desire to incite violence and threaten a variety of individuals and groups, including elected officials, a judge, and federal officials and law enforcement officers. The charges against Tomasi relate to threats he made in Arizona to federal law enforcement agents and employees. “The threats of violence against public officials alleged in this indictment are abhorrent,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The defendant is specifically charged with threatening to kill FBI agents and other FBI employees just for doing their jobs. I am deeply proud of the work the FBI does every day; its personnel should not have to deal with threats against themselves as they work to protect the American people. The Justice Department will not stand for such heinous behavior and will prosecute threats against its employees to the fullest extent of the law.” “In this country, there’s a right way and a wrong way to express your views under the Constitution, and violence or threats of violence is not it,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “The men and women of the FBI work tirelessly and selflessly to protect others every day, and we will continue to work with our partners to hold accountable those who make violent threats against them or any of our colleagues in law enforcement.” “Threats against law enforcement personnel like those alleged in this indictment are not just polemics, they are illegal under federal law and corrosive to civic life and dialogue,” said U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino for the District of Arizona. If convicted, Tomasi faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of making threats against a federal official, and a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of making interstate threats. The FBI is investigating the case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona is handling the prosecution. An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. Updated December 18, 2023

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Palantir and the NHS
by Gunnar Larson 21 Dec '23

21 Dec '23

https://blog.palantir.com/palantir-and-the-nhs-dd1362982fa9?gi=5c6233df50e5 Palantir and the NHS Palantir Palantir Blog Palantir · Follow Published in Palantir Blog 4 min read · Nov 21 Listen Share Today, the NHS has chosen Palantir, supported by a group of companies including Accenture, PwC, NECS and Carnall Farrar, to help deliver a Federated Data Platform (FDP). AWS and Microsoft will provide cloud platform services. The FDP will improve patient care by bringing together the information needed to plan and deliver care, and reduce the administrative burden on staff. We are humbled that we’ve been chosen to support this critical programme. It is the culmination of 20 years developing software that integrates complex and sensitive data in a way that delivers better outcomes, while protecting privacy, ensuring security and placing the customer in full control.

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BREAKING: Disney Owes Damages In 'Beauty' FX Tech Copyright Trial
by Gunnar Larson 21 Dec '23

21 Dec '23

BREAKING: Disney Owes Damages In 'Beauty' FX Tech Copyright Trial <https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1779667?nl_pk=3a5ab50c-5347-423d…> By Dorothy Atkins A California federal jury on Thursday found Disney owes damages to digital-effects company Rearden for ripping off its copyrighted special-effects software for Disney's 2017 live-action remake of "Beauty and the Beast," finding the entertainment giant must pay $250,638 in actual damages and recommending another $345,098 in disgorged profits. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1779667?nl_pk=3a5ab50c-5347-423d…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1779667?nl_pk=3a5ab50c-5347-423d…> https://www.law360.com/technology/articles/1779667?nl_pk=3a5ab50c-5347-423d…

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BREAKING: Chicago Pol Convicted In Bribery Case For Boosting Law Firm
by Gunnar Larson 21 Dec '23

21 Dec '23

BREAKING: Chicago Pol Convicted In Bribery Case For Boosting Law Firm <https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/1778669?nl_pk=a931e1a0-e840-4de…> By Celeste Bott An Illinois federal jury on Thursday convicted one of Chicago's longest serving and most powerful local politicians of using his official position to steer tax business to his personal law firm, finding ex-Alderman Ed Burke guilty of racketeering, extortion and bribery. Read full article » <https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/1778669?nl_pk=a931e1a0-e840-4de…> | Save to favorites » <https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/1778669?nl_pk=a931e1a0-e840-4de…> https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/1778669?nl_pk=a931e1a0-e840-4de…

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BREAKING: Rudy Giuliani Files For Bankruptcy After $148M Verdict
by Gunnar Larson 21 Dec '23

21 Dec '23

BREAKING: Rudy Giuliani Files For Bankruptcy After $148M Verdict By Rick Archer Rudy Giuliani filed Chapter 11 protection in a New York bankruptcy court Thursday, one day after two Georgia poll workers got court permission to go after him for the $148 million he owes for falsely accusing them of committing ballot fraud. Petition attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites » https://www.law360.com/legalethics/articles/1780022?nl_pk=a931e1a0-e840-4de…

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Btc is now just slavery to an exumed gold standard. Fuck that noise.
by pro2rat＠yahoo.com.au 21 Dec '23

21 Dec '23

But hey, don't just listen to me. https://bitcoinmagazine.com/technical/free-as-in-freedom-is-not-free-as-in-… A far better P2P, electronic cash system is possible. Fuck the gold standard revivalists. And fuck all Bitcoin reactionaries. Let the SOL rise. UBI from below wants us all to enjoy free cold beer and strong crypto. Where AVAX runs wild, naked and freely over the sun dappelled uplands of direct democracy. Btc catalyzed a revolution - but now its like Bakunin in Paris when he was described as indispensible in the morning of the 48 revolution there, and imposible by the evening.

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Don’t Cry for the Lowest Paid Wall Street Mega Bank CEO Just Yet; He’s Moving Up Fast
by Gunnar Larson 21 Dec '23

21 Dec '23

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2023/12/dont-cry-for-the-lowest-paid-wall-st… By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: December 6, 2023 ~ Robin Vince, President and CEO, BNY Mellon Corporation Robin Vince, President and CEO, BNY Mellon Corporation To stem some of the whining by the CEOs of the eight largest Wall Street mega banks at a Senate Banking hearing today (where they are expected to gripe about newly proposed higher capital requirements and whimper that it will hurt their ability to make loans to the little folks) the Banking Committee released the CEOs’ 2022 total compensation and its ratio to their bank’s median worker. Among the most embarrassing and obscene pay packages was the 2022 compensation to Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, which came in at $34.9 million. The ratio of Dimon’s pay to the pay of the median worker at JPMorgan Chase was 393 to 1, the highest among the eight CEOs at the hearing. (For more on the zombie Board at JPMorgan Chase that keeps rewarding Dimon for the bank’s serial criminal behavior, see our report: After JPMorgan Chase Admits to Its 4th and 5th Felony Charge, Its Board Gives a $50 Million Bonus to Its CEO, Jamie Dimon.) The lowest compensated CEO among the group was Robin Vince, President and CEO of Bank of New York Mellon. His total 2022 compensation was $11.2 million, which clocked in at 159 times the bank’s median worker’s compensation. You might want to save your tears for Vince. He’s been moving up the corporate ladder quite rapidly at BNY Mellon with his compensation moving just as rapidly. The proxy that the bank filed with the SEC this spring shows that Vince received total compensation in 2020 of $4.9 million, then leaped to $9.3 million in 2021 – an 89.80 percent increase in one year. And Vince’s previous background suggests strongly that he’ll be nudging his Board to move his compensation more in line with that of Dimon in the not so distant future. Vince joined BNY Mellon in October 2020 after 26 years at Goldman Sachs. When he left Goldman, he was serving as its Chief Risk Officer and was a member of the Management Committee. His previous roles at Goldman included Treasurer, Head of Operations, Head of Global Money Markets, COO of the EMEA region and CEO of Goldman Sachs International Bank, among others. He became a Managing Director at Goldman in 2002 and made partner in 2006. Vince won’t have to worry that he made a bad decision in moving from Goldman to BNY Mellon should there be a change in control. The proxy filed with the SEC also shares that if Vince is terminated by the bank as a result of a change in control, he’ll receive $12.17 million in a cash severance payment; $5.17 million in a pro-rated bonus; $59,914 in health and wellness benefits; for a total of $17.39 million just to walk out the fancy front door of this banking behemoth. Bank of New York Mellon dates its history to 1784 and calls itself “America’s oldest financial institution.” Today, it says, “BNY Mellon powers capital markets around the world through comprehensive solutions that help clients manage and service their financial assets throughout the investment life cycle.”

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Corpse media shouldn't call Pedo Guy, Eon Musk a member of the Pay pal Mafia
by pro2rat＠yahoo.com.au 21 Dec '23

21 Dec '23

Brownoser cowardly conformist and creepy Corpse Media shouldn't call Pedo Guy, Eon Musk a member of the Pay pal Mafia - Zombie Moron reporting https://www.dlnews.com/articles/people-culture/are-crypto-mafia-bosses-bett… Reposts designed to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable - you're welcome!

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Some Senate Democrats Move to the Dark Side for Jamie Dimon & Company’s Front Group
by Gunnar Larson 21 Dec '23

21 Dec '23

https://wallstreetonparade.com/2023/12/some-senate-democrats-move-to-the-da… ← The New York Fed Has Extended Its Half Trillion Dollar Bailout Facility to a Sprawling Japanese Bank You’ve Never Heard OfThree Wall Street Mega Banks Hold $157.3 Trillion in Derivatives – That’s $56.7 Trillion More than the Entire World’s GDP Last Year → Some Senate Democrats Move to the Dark Side for Jamie Dimon & Company’s Front Group By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: December 15, 2023 ~ A Wall Street cartel of lobbying groups has launched their fiercest anti-regulation battle with Congress since it was in the midst of writing the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation of 2010. That legislation hoped to address the worst Wall Street abuses and corruption that brought on the crash of 2008 – the most devastating financial meltdown since 1929 and the Great Depression. (See our report: Meet the Banking Cartel that Is Planting the Seeds for the Next Banking Panic and Bailout.) One tentacle of the cartel is the Financial Services Forum, whose total membership consists of the CEOs of the eight Wall Street mega banks: Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase; Brian Moynihan of Bank of America; Charles Scharf of Wells Fargo; Jane Fraser of Citigroup; David Solomon, Goldman Sachs; James Gorman, Morgan Stanley; Robin Vince, Bank of New York Mellon; and Ronald O’Hanley, of State Street. The Financial Services Forum has the Big Law firm of Akin Gump on its payroll to regularly lobby Congress to get its way; it is currently running deceptive ads during national television news programs in an effort to gut proposed new rules for higher capital at the mega banks that engage in high risk trading activities; and it has its own Political Action Committee (PAC) to funnel campaign contributions to members of Congress to get them to see things its way. Of late, it has been sluicing money to Democrats sitting on the Senate Banking Committee and House Financial Services Committee which have oversight of the Wall Street mega banks and their regulators. (Other tentacles of the cartel that are also funneling money to these exact same members of Congress are the Bank Policy Institute and Securities and Financial Markets Association, more commonly known as SIFMA.) Now, coincidentally, or not, some of the recipients of this cash have shown up in a video ad attacking the very rules that their Democratic colleagues are struggling hard to get approved. The clips in the video come from recent Congressional hearings on the proposed capital rules. Senator Jon Tester, Democrat from Montana, states in the ad that he is concerned about the impact on small businesses. Senator David Scott, Democrat from Georgia, states that he is worried about the proposal’s impact on hedges for farmers. Senator Mark Warner, Democrat from Virginia, states he is concerned this could trigger the “perfect storm,” coming at a time of rising “geopolitical risks.” (In fact, a time of rising geopolitical risks following the largest bank runs since 2008 this past spring is exactly when casino trading banks should be holding more capital against their riskiest exposures.) Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat from Maryland, only mentions in the video clip that he is concerned about the treatment of clean energy tax credits in the proposed regulation – which has nothing to do with the increase in capital requirements. We reached out to a spokesperson at Senator Van Hollen’s office for a comment on this video ad. We were told the following: “Senator Van Hollen supports enhanced capital requirements. As he made clear in the hearing, he simply wants to ensure that the final rule does not result in unintended consequences that harm our clean energy investments. The inclusion of his remarks in this ad – which is designed to discredit the broader effort on capital requirements – is an outrageous misrepresentation of his views.” Democratic House Reps from the House Financial Services Committee are also featured in the ad, with clips of their statements from a recent hearing, that make it appear they are questioning the need for higher capital at the mega banks. Those House Reps include: Bill Foster (D-IL); Jim Himes (D-CT); Sean Casten (D-IL); and House Rep Gregory Meeks (D-NY). The most shocking clip in the video comes from House Rep Brad Sherman, a Democrat from California, who has typically in the past been able to see through the subterfuge from high-powered Wall Street lobbyists. But in this instance, he delivered their talking points like a paid shill. According to Federal Election Committee data tracked at OpenSecrets.org, Sherman’s 2022 political campaign coffers included $278,650 from the “Securities and Investment” industry – his largest donor base. Sherman is up for reelection next year. On September 27 of this year, SIFMA wrote out a check for $5,000 to Sherman’s campaign coffers, earmarked for next year’s primary, according to the Federal Election Commission database. Sherman’s office did not respond to our request for a comment on him appearing to shill for Wall Street mega banks in their ad. When it comes to knowledge of the dangerous underpinnings and history of the Wall Street mega banks, the two most knowledgeable individuals on the Senate Banking Committee are former Harvard Law Professor Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), the Chair of the Committee. Senator Elizabeth Warren cut to the chase on the proposed increase in capital for the mega banks during the Senate Banking Committee’s hearing with regulators on November 14. Warren stated the following: “Last spring, the second and third and fourth biggest bank failures in the United States’ history occurred. Those failures cost the FDIC over $30 billion. In other words, the investors and executives took on big risks, they made big money and then they left the U.S. government on the hook when they couldn’t cover the outstanding deposits. “That’s not supposed to happen. After the crash of 2008, regulators were supposed to put in place rules to require big banks to have enough capital to cover financial shocks so that taxpayers won’t have to do that. And now here we are, fifteen years later, and regulators are finally, finally, near the finish line. “In July, they put out proposed rules for stronger capital requirements, including the so-called Basel III Endgame rules. But Wall Street executives don’t want to have to put up more capital. “Higher capital standards make banks safer but they also nip into profits and make it harder for CEOs to pull in multi-million-dollar bonuses. So the CEOs and their big-time investors have hired an army of lobbyists to stop the new capital standards from ever seeing the light of day. “Their leading argument right now is that higher capital requirements would hurt lending to small businesses all across America. I think we’ve heard some of that this morning.” Senator Warren then turns to one of the federal bank regulators appearing at the hearing, the Vice Chair for Supervision at the Federal Reserve, Michael Barr, and asks him: “How many insured depository institutions would the rule apply to.” Barr responds that the proposed new capital rules would apply to just 37 banks. Warren continues: “So there are almost 4,700 insured depository institutions in the United States, if I have my math right. [She does.] That means the capital rules for more than 99 percent of the nation’s banks, including the community banks that serve small businesses, farms and American families, those rules are not going to change one bit.” Senator Warren’s arguments were further backed up at the start of the Senate Banking Committee hearing on November 6 with the CEOs of the eight largest banks on Wall Street when Senator Sherrod Brown opened the hearing with this: “…anyone who had any doubt about whether Wall Street could be trusted to use its power responsibly need only look at the current lobbying fight on this. If you’ve watched the local news in Washington, if you’ve waited at a bus stop in Washington, if you’ve flown out of Washington national airport, you’ve probably seen ads urging people to, quote, ‘Stop Basel Endgame.’ “The eight of you surely know your audience. And you haven’t stopped there – you’ve even gone national, pouring money into ads for Sunday night football. It’s a campaign waged by your lobbyists to prevent financial watchdogs from putting in place these stronger capital requirements to protect our banking system and our economy. “Listening to these ads, you hear all kinds of claims about how stronger rules will raise the cost of mortgages and stop small businesses from getting loans. “Wall Street banks are actually saying that cracking down on them will, quote, ‘hurt working families.’ Really? You’re saying that cracking down on Wall Street is going to hurt working families? You’re going to claim that? “The economic devastation of 2008 hurt working families. The uncertainty and turmoil from the failure of Silicon Valley Bank hurt working families – when small businesses and their employees in Ohio and Utah and across the country didn’t know if they could get access to their money and make payroll. And of course, the claims in this ad campaign aren’t true. “Your game is to try to confuse people. Most Americans probably think of a bank’s capital – if you force people to think about it at all – as money stashed away in a vault. But that’s not what it means. Capital is just a way to fund loans and investments and risky activities in a way that can absorb losses if things go south. It means shareholders and investors are on the hook – not taxpayers.” Wall Street mega banks and their lobbyists are likely to win this battle unless you pick up your phone today and call your U.S. Senators and demand that they hold the line on increasing capital requirements for the high-risk trading activities of the mega banks.

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