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FTX co-founder testifies against Sam Bankman-Fried, saying they committed crimes and lied to public

FILE – FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried leaves Federal court, July 26, 2023, in New York. Jury selection begins Tuesday, Oct. 3 in a case in which the 31-year-old crypto mogul faces the possibility of a long prison term if convicted. Prosecutors say he cheated thousands of people who deposited cryptocurrency on the FTX exchange by illegally diverting massive sums of their money for his personal use, including making risky trades at his cryptocurrency hedge fund. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

Prosecutors went to the heart of their case against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried on Thursday as the company’s co-founder began his testimony, telling a New York jury that he and Bankman-Fried committed financial crimes and lied to the public before the cryptocurrency trading platform collapsed last year.

Gary Wang, 30, said he committed wire, securities and commodities fraud as the chief technical officer at FTX after also sharing ownership in Alameda Research, a cryptocurrency hedge fund that he and Bankman-Fried started in 2017 and eventually used to withdraw $8 billion in FTX funds illegally. He said Bankman-Fried directed the illegal moves.

His assertions came on the second day of testimony at a trial expected to last up to six weeks as prosecutors try to prove that Bankman-Fried stole billions of dollars from investors and customers to buy luxury beachfront real estate, enrich himself and make over $100 million in political contributions aimed at influencing cryptocurrency regulation.

Bankman-Fried, 31, who has been jailed since August, was brought to the United States from the Bahamas last December after he was charged in Manhattan federal court. He has pleaded not guilty.

Before the trial began Tuesday, prosecutors promised to use testimony from Bankman-Fried’s “trusted inner circle” to prove he intentionally stole from customers and investors and then lied about it. Defense lawyers say Bankman-Fried had no criminal intent as he took actions to try to save his businesses after the cryptocurrency market collapsed.

In just over a half hour of testimony, Wang said he and Bankman-Fried allowed Alameda Research to withdraw unlimited funds from FTX “and we lied to the public.”

Wang said not only was Alameda Research permitted to maintain negative balances and unlimited open positions, but the computer code that controlled its operations was written to provide a line of credit of $65 billion, a number so large that Judge Lewis A. Kaplan questioned Wang briefly to ensure he was talking about billions rather than millions.

Wang testified that the special computer code features were directed by Bankman-Fried, a man he met over a decade ago at a high school summer camp after moving to the United States from China and growing up in Minnesota.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/bankman-fried-cryptocurrency-trial-3f42c055a8040ad8fb2edb4c7319f153

SEC tries to force Musk to testify in Twitter takeover probe

elon musk in blue suit in deep thinking — Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of Twitter, gestures as he attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in Paris, France, June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, is being sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which is trying to compel him to testify as part of a probe into his $44 billion takeover of social media giant Twitter, a Thursday court filing showed.

The investigation, which escalates a long-running feud between the SEC and Musk, concerns whether Musk broke federal securities laws in 2022 when he bought stock in Twitter, which Musk renamed X, as well as statements and SEC filings he made in relation to the deal.

The SEC in May 2022 said it was looking into Musk’s disclosure of his stake in Twitter, questioning whether he filed the appropriate paperwork.

The SEC in Thursday’s filing said it subpoenaed Musk in May 2023 requiring him to provide testimony at the SEC’s San Francisco office, and that Musk had agreed to appear on Sept. 15. But then two days beforehand Musk raised “several spurious objections” and told the SEC he would not appear, the SEC said.

Musk also refused SEC proposals to conduct the deposition in Texas in October or November.

Among his objections was that the SEC was trying to “harass” him and his counsel needed time to review potentially relevant material contained in a biography of Musk published last month, the SEC said.

According to the filing, Musk has given the SEC documents relating to the probe and has previously provided testimony in July last year via video conference.

“The SEC has already taken Mr. Musk’s testimony multiple times in this misguided investigation – enough is enough,” said a statement from Alex Spiro, an attorney for Musk.

In a press release, the SEC said it was seeking “Musk’s testimony to obtain information not already in the SEC’s possession that is relevant to its legitimate and lawful investigation.” An SEC spokesperson declined to comment further.

Musk acquired Twitter after initially building a large minority stake in the social media platform, which he first disclosed in April 2022. Musk was late with the disclosure filing and initially indicated he planned to be a passive stakeholder, meaning he did not plan to take over Twitter or influence its management decisions.

Days later, Musk accepted and then turned down a board seat at Twitter. In late April, he announced plans to buy the company for $44 billion but subsequently tried to get out of the deal, alleging Twitter was not disclosing the full extent of bot activity on its platform.

Faced with a trial that sought to compel him to complete the deal, Musk closed his acquisition of Twitter in late October 2022.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/elon-musks-twitter-stock-purchases-under-probe-by-sec-2023-10-05/

US accuses Google of illegal methods to push up ad prices

An illuminated Google logo is seen inside an office building in Zurich, Switzerland December 5, 2018. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights

A lawyer for the U.S. Justice Department pressed a Google executive on Wednesday about techniques the search and advertising giant used to push up online advertising prices in an allegedly unfair way.

Testifying at a once-in-a-generation antitrust trial in Washington where the United States has accused Google of abusing its dominance of search and some advertising, Google executive Adam Juda said the company uses a formula, which includes the quality of an ad, to decide who wins auctions that are used to place advertising on websites.

The Justice Department has accused Google of manipulating online auctions – a multibillion dollar industry dominated by Google – with these formulas to favor its own bottom line.

Justice Department attorney David Dahlquist asked Juda if he agreed with a document that Google had prepared for the European Union, which said that the company can “directly affect pricing through tunings of our auction mechanisms.” Juda said he did not.

Pressed on if “tuning” can impact pricing, Juda said, “They can.” Juda’s testimony began on Tuesday and continued into Wednesday.

Juda said one thing that can be “tuned” is a rough formula that gives an ad a long-term value, or LTV, based on the bid given, the potential click-through rate or how many people will likely click on it and the quality of the advertisement and website associated with it.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-antitrust-trial-accuses-google-illegal-methods-push-up-ad-prices-2023-10-04/

Google doesn’t allow competition, Apple is kingmaker: Nadella testifies in Google anti-trust trial

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Credit: Reuters

Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, testified as a witness for the US Justice Department in a antitrust trial against Alphabet, the parent company of Google.

Google, which controls almost 90 per cent of the search industry, is accused by the Justice Department of abusing the dominance of its search engine to stifle competition and innovation at the expense of consumers.

The prosecution claims that in order to maintain its position at the top, Google paid illegally $10 billion annually to wireless carriers like AT&T, smartphone manufacturers like Apple, and other parties to be the default search engine on their devices.

Satya Nadella testified in the Google anti-trust trial, claiming that due to Google’s market dominance, Microsoft is unable to compete, media outlets reported.

Source: https://www.deccanherald.com/business/google-doesnt-allow-competition-apple-is-kingmaker-nadella-testifies-in-google-anti-trust-trial-2710411