Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. Prominent Trump supporter and Palantir (NASDAQ:PLTR) co-founder Joe Lonsdale has publicly criticized the president’s decision to pardon Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the co-founder of Binance. ‘POTUS Advised Terribly On This,’ Says Lonsdale Lonsdale took to X on Thursday to say: “POTUS has been terribly advised on this; it makes it look like massive fraud is happening around him in this area.” He expressed his ad ...

A class action lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York accuses Meteora co-founder Benjamin Chow of orchestrating a systematic fraud scheme that weaponized celebrity endorsements from Melania Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei to defraud retail crypto investors of at least $57 million. The Second Amended Class Action Complaint alleges Chow and associates operated the Meteora-Kelsier Enterprise as a “fraud factory” disguised as decentralized finance, using the Meteora liquidity-pooling pr ...

By 2025, the rise of artificial intelligence has transformed fraud from an inconvenience for crypto users into a systemic issue that could shake the entire industry. While AI empowers stronger defenses, it also gives fraudsters the tools to create more sophisticated scams, making the problem more urgent than ever. The escalation of fraud is a cause for concern. In the first quarter of 2025, U.S. deepfake fraud attempts surged by a staggering 1,100%, while synthetic identity fraud saw a near 300% rise. T ...

A Tennessee couple who exploited their real estate connections to bilk investors out of millions through a fake crypto trading scheme has been ordered to pay over $6.8 million in restitution and penalties. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced Thursday that the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee entered a consent order against Michael and Amanda Griffis, Clarksville real estate agents who operated the fraudulent "Blessings of God Thru Crypto" commodity pool from 2021 to 20 ...

A pan-European crypto scam worth over €100M ($118M) has been broken up, according to Eurojust. Fraudsters lured investors through subtle, nefarious platforms, rerouted their money to Lithuanian accounts, and vanished once withdrawals were requested. “The alleged mastermind is suspected of large-scale fraud and money laundering,” Eurojust said in its Sept. 22 announcement. My plan at the start of 2025 was to flee to Central Europe, what could go wrong? Apparently, this is one of the many things that could ...

Core Viewpoint - Alexander Mashinsky, former CEO of Celsius Network, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to fraud, marking a significant downfall for a leader once celebrated in the crypto industry [1][5]. Group 1: Legal Proceedings and Sentencing - Mashinsky was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl after pleading guilty to commodities fraud and manipulating the Celsius token [2]. - His legal troubles began in 2023 with his arrest on multiple fraud charges, coinciding with Celsius's $4.7 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission [3]. - The guilty plea and sentencing conclude a lengthy case involving charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission [5]. Group 2: Fraud Allegations - Prosecutors accused Mashinsky of misleading investors regarding the safety and profitability of Celsius's yield-generating platform while secretly liquidating tens of millions of dollars in personal assets [4]. - The fraud scheme orchestrated by Mashinsky and Celsius is described as multi-billion dollar, reflecting a broader trend of legal actions against prominent figures in the crypto sector [5]. Group 3: Industry Context - Mashinsky's downfall parallels that of other crypto executives like Sam Bankman-Fried, highlighting a pattern of significant legal repercussions within the cryptocurrency industry [5]. - The collapse of Celsius and other firms like Three Arrows Capital and Voyager Digital can be traced back to the broader impact of failed projects, such as Do Kwon's stablecoin, which wiped out approximately $40 billion from the market [16][19].