Is Trump right to worry that China could ‘take over’ crypto?

A man from the US state of Virginia will spend over three decades behind bars after being convicted of sending crypto to the terrorist organization commonly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.Federal Judge David Novak sentenced Mohammed Azharuddin Chhipa to 30 years and four months in prison on May 7 for sending over $185,000 to the Islamic State, the Department of Justice said on May 8.Prosecutors said that from around October 2019 until October 2022, the 35-year-old Chhipa collected and sent money to female Islamic State members in Syria, which helped them escape prison camps and funded fighting.The Justice Department said Chhipa would raise funds for the United Nations-designated terror organization through social media — receiving money online, or traveling hundreds of miles to accept donations in person. He’d convert the money into crypto and send it to Turkey for it to be smuggled to Islamic State members across the border in Syria, prosecutors said.A federal jury convicted Chhipa in December, finding him guilty on a charge of conspiracy to provide support to a terrorist organization and four charges of providing and attempting to provide support to a terrorist organization.An undated picture of Chhipa, a naturalized US citizen born in India. Source: Alexandria Sheriff’s Office via TRM“This defendant directly financed ISIS in its efforts to commit vile terrorist atrocities against innocent citizens in America and abroad,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “This severe sentence illustrates that if you fund terrorism, we will prosecute you and put you behind bars for decades.”Chhipa tried to flee US during FBI probeProsecutors said that during the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigation into Chhipa, he tried to flee the country to escape prosecution and tried to hide his tracks through a series of actions seemingly aimed at confusing authorities.According to a motion for detention filed in August, FBI agents searched Chhipa’s house on Aug. 2, 2019, and that night Chhipa drove to a bank, withdrew $1,800 from an ATM, and then went to a Taco Bell, where he paid a stranger for a ride to a relative’s house. The relative then drove him to a grocery store.Related: US Treasury sanctions Myanmar militia group for alleged crypto scamsThree days later, prosecutors said Chhipa “purchased a series of bus tickets using variations and/or misspelling of his name and recently created email accounts.”He then travelled from Virginia to Mexico and onto Guatemala. He then bought tickets to fly from Guatemala to Panama, then onto Germany, and then to Egypt, but an Interpol Blue Notice was issued, and he was returned to the US.Magazine: Terrorism and the Israel-Gaza war have been weaponized to destroy crypto 

A crypto-skeptical commissioner at the US Securities and Exchange Commission has blasted her agency over its settlement letter that could finally end the Ripple legal saga. The SEC and Ripple filed a joint settlement letter in a New York court asking for the August 2024 injunction against Ripple to be dissolved and $75 million of the $125 million in civil penalties held in escrow to be returned to the crypto firm, according to a May 8 statement from the SEC.SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw blasted the pending deal in a May 8 statement, saying it would damage the regulators’ ability to keep crypto firms in line and undermine the court’s ruling.Source: James Filan“This settlement, alongside the programmatic disassembly of the SEC’s crypto enforcement program, does a tremendous disservice to the investing public and undermines the court’s role in interpreting our securities laws,” she said.“In the meantime, the settlement joins a line of dismissals that collectively erode the credibility of our lawyers in court who are being asked to take legal positions today contrary to the ones taken just months ago.”Under the Trump administration, the SEC has slowly been walking back its hardline stance toward crypto firms forged under former SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s reign, dismissing a growing number of enforcement actions against crypto firms.At the same time, Crenshaw argues that if Judge Torres accepts the settlement, it would erase “the investor protections we already won” and leave a “regulatory vacuum,” until the crypto task force hammers out a regulatory framework.“The settlement is not in the best interests of the investors and markets that our agency is tasked with serving and protecting. It creates more questions than answers.”In August last year, a Judge ordered Ripple to pay $125 million in penalties after ruling the firm’s XRP (XRP) token was covered by securities laws when sold to institutional investors.What’s next for the Ripple case? It’s not over yetWhile the SEC and Ripple have agreed to a settlement, it’s still not a done deal, according to ex-federal prosecutor James Filan, because there are several steps before the long-running legal saga can conclude.For a start, Judge Torres needs to provide an indicative ruling if she agrees to the settlement letter, Filan said in a May 8 analysis on X.Source: James FilanIf Torres provides an indicative ruling, the SEC and Ripple will ask the Second Circuit Court of Appeals for a limited remand back to Judge Torres, which, if granted, will result in another motion being filed for the agreed settlement, according to Filan.Related: Bitnomial drops SEC lawsuit ahead of XRP futures launch in the US“After the injunction is dissolved and the funds distributed, the SEC and Ripple will ask the Court of Appeals to dismiss the SEC’s appeal and Ripple’s cross-appeal. Then it will be over,” he said.The SEC initially launched legal action against Ripple Labs in December 2020, accusing the firm of illegally selling its token as an unregistered security. Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered

Michelle Bond, the wife of former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame, who faces federal campaign finance charges, is pushing for dismissal on the grounds that US prosecutors deceived her husband in a plea deal.In a May 7 filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Bond’s lawyers reiterated some of the claims Salame made in opposing his plea deal with the government, which ultimately still led to him serving time in prison. She claimed that prosecutors obtained a deal with Salame through “stealth and deception” by allegedly agreeing they would not file charges against Bond. “Mr. Salame and Ms. Bond’s attorneys were advised that the agreement to cease investigating Ms. Bond could not be placed within the four corners of the Salame plea or other written agreement, but the government still offered it as an inducement to induce the plea,” said the filing, adding: “At a minimum, enough exists to demonstrate a legitimate factual dispute as to the nature and scope of the promises made to Mr. Salame and Ms. Bond to induce his guilty plea such that a hearing with discovery is required.”May 7 filing requesting a dismissal of one charge for Michelle Bond. Source: CourtlistenerProsecutors charged Bond in August 2024 with conspiracy to cause unlawful campaign contributions, causing and accepting excessive campaign contributions, causing and receiving an unlawful corporate contribution, and causing and receiving a conduit contribution related to her failed run for a seat in the US House of Representatives in 2022. Salame, who pleaded guilty to two felony charges in 2023 and was later sentenced to more than seven years in prison, attempted to void his deal with prosecutors, claiming it had included an agreement not to charge Bond.Related: Former FTX executive Ryan Salame’s prison sentence reduced by 1 yearThe May 7 filing requested the court suppress any statements Bond made after the alleged “inducement” in Salame’s deal. The former FTX executive made similar claims in court filings attempting to nullify his plea, but later dropped the matter and reported to prison in October 2024. Bond hinted that her running as a Republican — similar politically-motivated claims made by Salame — had contributed to the campaign finance charges. The indictment alleged she filed false reports to the Federal Election Commission related to funds used for her campaign.The FTX saga hasn’t ended… yetSince the collapse of FTX in 2022, nearly all former executives indicted on charges related to the misuse of the crypto exchange’s funds have had their day in court. Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who pleaded not guilty, went through a trial in 2023 and was later sentenced to 25 years in prison. His lawyers filed a notice of appeal, and reports suggested he may be looking for a pardon from US President Donald Trump.Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, was sentenced to two years in prison in September 2024 as part of a plea deal and began serving her time in November. Nishad Singh and Gary Wang, former FTX executives who also pleaded guilty to charges, were each sentenced to time served in 2024.Magazine: XRP win leaves Ripple and industry with no crypto legal precedent set