FBI
Can the government track Bitcoin?
Apart from data analysis done alone or in cooperation with private companies, authorities may request information from centralized exchanges. Due to regulation, centralized exchanges may also be obligated to share such information. However, not all cryptocurrency exchanges collaborate with authorities. A centralized exchange is a cryptocurrency exchange that is run by a single entity, such as Coinbase. To become a licensed operator in a certain country or territory, centralized exchanges need to comply with regulations. For instance, to decrease cryptocurrency anonymity and the illicit use of cryptocurrencies, most centralized exchanges have incorporated Know Your Customer (KYC) checks. KYC is meant to verify customers’ identities alongside helping authorities to analyze activity...
Trump Shook Over FBI Probe of Documents Found at Mar-A-Lago
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: RONDA CHURCHILL / Getty The recent search of the home of former President Donald Trump last week by the FBI has apparently struck a serious nerve, as Trump is showing public signs of panic online. According to a report, the search of the private club in Palm Beach, Fka. by the FBI which was conducted last Monday (August 8th) and led to the procurement of several boxes containing highly classified government documents has Donald Trump, the former POTUS in a frenzied state of panic. His reaction? He’s now changing his position almost daily and is obsessed with trying to figure out who in his inner circle could be the person who is the informant that alerted the government agency on where to locate the boxes of documents at Mar-A-Lago. When asked about Trump...
FBI Search Of Trump’s Mar-A-Lago Home Reportedly Connected To Nuclear Documents
Written By D.L. Chandler , Senior Editor Posted 15 mins ago @dlchandler123 D.L. Chandler is a veteran of the Washington D.C. metro writing scene, working as a journalist, reporter, and culture critic. Initially freelancing at iOne Digital in 2010, he officially joined the iOne team in 2017 where he currently works as a Senior Editor for Cassius Life and Hip-Hop Wired. D.L. covers a variety of topics including breaking news, politics, Hip-Hop music and culture, fashion, and Black history. He currently heads the SPIRIT.ED column for Cassius Life, which focuses on adult beverages and their history. D.L. has worked in the past for MTV News, Billboard, and several other publications. His first big break in journalism came with the now-defunct Politically Black in 1999, the nation’s first ...
‘Pig slaughtering’ crypto scams reap millions on Silicon Valley dating apps
Lonely hearts in Silicon Valley are reportedly falling prey to a wave of “pig slaughtering” crypto scams via dating applications. An investigator for cybersecurity company Sift found that one in 20 people who approached her on dating apps in San Francisco was working the scam. Pig slaughtering, or butchering, is a type of scam in which an individual/group puts in weeks or months of work to build a fake relationship with the victim, metaphorically fattening them up. The end goal is to get the victim to invest in crypto via either a duplicated version of a legitimate website or by transferring funds to a dodgy wallet address. The scammers often shift the conversations over from dating apps or social media to encrypted messaging services such as WhatsApp and put in countless hours of daily co...
F.B.I. Investigates Basquiat Paintings At Orlando Museum
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Rose Hartman / Getty As a resurgence of interest in the works of the late artist Jean-Michel Basquiat is taking place, a recent grouping of paintings has aroused suspicion and the interest of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. According to reports, the Art Crime Team of the F.B.I. has opened an investigation into the authenticity of 25 paintings on display in an exhibit entitled “Heroes & Monsters: Jean-Michel Basquiat” at the Orlando Museum of Art. The agency reportedly issued a federal subpoena last July to obtain “any and all” communications between employees of the museum and owners of the paintings. The request also demanded records from the museum’s board of trustees. The owners of the artwork and the museum’s director and chief executive, Aar...
Terrible crypto trader gets 42 months for fraud, claiming he was a total gun
A crypto trader who defrauded over 170 people was sentenced to 42 months in prison on May 11 for operating a series of cryptocurrency funds claiming to make big returns but in reality were losing money and instead operated as a Ponzi scheme. The DOJ said that 25 year old Jeremy Spence had solicited millions through false representations, “including that Spence’s crypto trading had been extremely profitable when, in fact, Spence’s trading had been consistently unprofitable.” Spence, who operated the social media channels for a crypto investment scheme called “Coin Signals” was handed the decision by United Stated District Judge Lewis Kaplan for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Spence was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to p...
FBI director: Russia overestimates its ability to bypass US sanctions using crypto
Christopher Wray, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said that fiat was a more likely avenue for Russia to explore in circumventing sanctions, given the United States’ ability to block efforts using crypto. In a Thursday hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich asked the FBI director if Russia might respond to the economic impact of the United States banning imports of the country’s oil and gas by using reserves of gold, China’s currency or cryptocurrency. Director Wray said the FBI and its partners had “built up significant expertise” on digital assets, citing the department’s recent work in seizing large amounts of tokens as evidence there were vulnerabilities in using crypto to get around sanctions. “The Rus...
Fetty Wap Arrested By FBI For Alleged Role In Opioid Drug Ring, What We Know
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Johnny Nunez / Getty Rapper Fetty Wap has been arrested and is facing charges after allegedly being a part of a bicoastal opioid drug ring. According to Deadline, Fetty Wap, real name William Junior Maxwell, was arrested last week at New York’s CitiField on a two-count federal indictment. The “Trap Queen” rapper was going to be a part of the three-day Rolling Loud music festival at the New York Mets’ home stadium but never made it to the stage. After the arrest, Maxwell stood before a Long Island judge on charges of being what the government is calling a “kilogram-level dealer” of opioids. News of the arrest comes just a week after the release of The Butterfly Effect, the rapper’s second studio album—inspired largely by the death of his young daughte...
Pentagon: US team going to Haiti to assess needs
A team of U.S. security and law enforcement experts is traveling to Haiti to determine what assistance Washington can provide following the assassination of the Haitian president last week, the Pentagon said on Sunday. “Today, an inter-agency team largely from the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are heading down to Haiti right now to see what we can to do help in the investigative process,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told “Fox News Sunday.” “That’s really where our energies are best applied right now – in helping them get their arms around investigating this incident and figuring out who’s culpable … and how best to hold them accountable,” Kirby said in the interview. President Joe Biden will be briefed by the team when it returns and “then make decisions about the way forwa...
Haiti asks US, UN to send troops after president’s assassination
Haiti has asked Washington and the UN for troops to secure its ports, airport and other strategic sites after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise opened a power vacuum in the crisis-hit Caribbean nation, an official said Friday. The United States has already said it will send FBI and other agents to Port-au-Prince, two days after Moise was shot dead in his home. In the wake of the slaying “we thought that mercenaries could destroy some infrastructure to create chaos … During a conversation with the US secretary of state and the UN we made this request,” elections minister Mathias Pierre told AFP. The US State Department and Pentagon both confirmed receiving a request for “security and investigative assistance” and said officials remain in contact with Port-au-Prince, but did not s...
EFCC: Top government officials involved in illicit financial flows
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has accused Nigerian leaders and top government officials of aiding the Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) activities in the country. The EFCC also revealed that corrupt government officials and their private sector collaborators used fronts and ownership structures that do not provide sufficient information about the true identities of the natural persons behind the title to hide illicit money and transferred same to safe havens abroad. The Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Abduralsheed Bawa, disclosed this during a one-day conference that was organised by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CSLAC) on IFF on Corruption in Arbitration in Abuja Bawa, who was represented by the Head of Research Unit, Department of Policy Research a...
FBI Makes Previously Classified Kurt Cobain File Public
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-07T17:51:10+00:00“>May 7, 2021 | 1:51pm ET Twenty-seven years after Kurt Cobain‘s death, the FBI has just publicized a previously classified file on the late Nirvana frontman. The crux of the file revolves around two letters that ask the agency to investigate whether the iconic singer was murdered, as well as a fax that was sent to the production company behind Unsolved Mysteries. Cobain’s official cause of death is suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound on April 5th, 1994. However, over the years there have been a ton of conspiracy theories, many suggesting that the grunge legend was murdered. As seen in the actual FBI file, the names of the senders have been redacted, but on...
