Tag: Fraud

Episode 19 – Inflation, deflation, and stablecoins with Frances Coppola (Part 1) — Crypto Critics’ Corner

~ Bennett Tomlin ~ Leave a comment
Episode 19 – Inflation, deflation, and stablecoins with Frances Coppola (Part 1)

Inflation, deflation, and stablecoins with Frances Coppola (Part I) – Crypto Critics' Corner

Frances Coppola – "infamous" nocoiner and author – joins Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey to teach everyone a thing or two about inflation, deflation, hyperinflation, and stablecoin regulation.

In this episode Cas and I are discussing the problematic history of charities in the crypto space. 

In this episode Cas and I are joined by Frances Coppola to discuss inflation and deflation along with stablecoins. 

You can find Frances’ Twitter here, her blog here, and her book here.

Note: This post contains an affiliate link to support the blog.

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Episode 18 – Crypto Charity: where you donate to random people making promises and get nothing in return — Crypto Critics’ Corner

~ Bennett Tomlin ~ 1 Comment
Episode 18 – Crypto Charity: where you donate to random people making promises and get nothing in return

Crypto Charity – where you donate to random people making promises and get nothing in return – Crypto Critics' Corner

Today's episode is guest-less! Just Bennett Tomlin and Cas Piancey discussing how particularly egregious cryptocurrency-based charities tend to be. Examples include Jacob Kostecki, Binance's Pink Care Token, and Deltec Cares.

In this episode Cas and I are discussing the problematic history of charities in the crypto space. 

I discuss Jacob Kostecki here:

A List of Facts about Jacob/Jakub Kostecki

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The Available Evidence that Tether and Bitfinex Committed Bank Fraud

~ Bennett Tomlin ~ 1 Comment

The Available Evidence that Tether and Bitfinex Committed Bank Fraud – Bennett's Articles

https://bennettftomlin.com/2021/07/26/the-available-evidence-that-tether-and-bitfinex-committed-bank-fraud/ Recently Bloomberg reported that several Tether executives (archive) have gotten ‘target letters’ for bank fraud from the Department of Justice. There is evidence that Tether and Bitfinex may have participated in bank fraud. We have several reasons to believe that Tether may have committed bank fraud starting by this video that was saved by Bitfinex’ed. We’ve had banking hiccups in the past, we’ve just always been able to route around it or deal with it, open up new accounts, or what have you… shift to a new corporate entity, lots of cat and mouse tricks. Sometimes those accounts get shut down because the correspondent banks realize this is Bitcoin related. The specific claim that Bloomberg is claiming is under investigation is that Tether may have misrepresented to banks their line of business and tried to hide that it was cryptocurrency related. I think the above quotes make it extraordinarily likely that Tether was doing exactly what they are accused of. Update: I forgot to mention the below story that the NYAG revealed. https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/DocumentDisplayServlet?documentId=vIexA1b0spKOnK_PLUS_ZUGTJ3A==&system=prod (Archive) (My copy) When the New York Attorney General filed their request for an ex parte order they revealed that for a period that Bitfinex depended on ‘friends of Bitfinex’ who would use their accounts to service withdrawals. It is very likely in my opinion that this was not fully disclosed to their banks. It is also important to remember that Bitfinex and Tether relied on Crypto Capital Corp to provide ‘Bank Fraud as a Service’. Crypto Capital Corp would misrepresent to banks that they were in real estate, while actually providing shadow banking services to Bitfinex, Tether, Kraken, Quadriga, Bitmex and others. They would also use fake bond certificates to claim to have more funds than they actually did, and the principal was arrested with counterfeited bills and the ability to issue more. It is thanks to this fraudulent behavior that Crypto Capital Corp was able to maintain banking relationships for the periods where they could. When Tether lost banking in 2017, they likely depended on Crypto Capital Corp. It would be Crypto Capital Corp eventually having their bank accounts seized that would lead to Bitfinex robbing hundreds of millions of dollars from Tethers account. Moral of the story, don’t lie to your bank.

Recently Bloomberg reported that several Tether executives (archive) have gotten ‘target letters’ for bank fraud from the Department of Justice. There is evidence that Tether and Bitfinex may have participated in bank fraud.

Continue reading “The Available Evidence that Tether and Bitfinex Committed Bank Fraud” →

A History of Tether and Bitfinex’s Audits, Attestations, Memos, and Letters: Both Promised and Actual

~ Bennett Tomlin ~ 1 Comment

A History of Tether and Bitfinex’s Audits, Attestations, Memos, and Letters: Both Promised and Actual – Bennett's Articles

https://bennettftomlin.com/2021/07/17/a-history-of-tether-and-bitfinexs-audits-attestations-memos-and-letters-both-promised-and-actual/ Amidst all the confusion surrounding Tether and Bitfinex it can be difficult to keep track of what they have actually provided in terms of audits, attestations, and other documents to support their contentions. Here I will summarize, but the important note that needs to be included at the top is that both Bitfinex and Tether once hired an auditor, but neither ever completed the audit. Ever since Tether was founded they have promised to provide a full financial audit. It feature prominently in their whitepaper and on their website for years. They have never provided this audit, but have provided a variety of other documents meant to convince the public that they had sufficient backing for the tethers in circulation. In March of 2015 Tether and Factom announced (archive) they had formed a partnership to provide greater transparency into Tether’s holdings. The partnership never provided any additional transparency into Tether or its operations. In August of 2016 Bitfinex promised (archive) to provide a full financial and security audit after they were hacked. They initially announced that Ledger Labs was hired to perform both. No audit from Ledger Labs was ever released. This was likely in part due to the fact that Ledger Labs was not able to provide financial audits. In May of 2017 Bitfinex announced (archive) they had engaged Friedman LLP out of New York to audit them. As of today in 2021 we have yet to get an update from Bitfinex on the status of this audit. In September of 2017 Tether announced (archive) that they had engaged Friedman LLP out of New York to audit them. This audit would never occur, we would eventually get an update from a Tether spokesperson saying the relationship dissolved, citing the “excruciatingly detailed procedures”(archive) that the auditor wanted to undertake. Also in September of 2017 Tether released from previous attestations from a small accounting firm in Taiwan called TOPSUN. These were monthly attestations attesting to Tether having sufficient backing for the end of the month from December 2016 through March 2017. Strangely these were not completed at the end of the respective months but were all completed on May 23rd 2017. (Strangely approximately two weeks after they announced that Friedman had been brought on to audit Bitfinex) Read more… https://bennettftomlin.com/2021/07/17/a-history-of-tether-and-bitfinexs-audits-attestations-memos-and-letters-both-promised-and-actual/

Amidst all the confusion surrounding Tether and Bitfinex it can be difficult to keep track of what they have actually provided in terms of audits, attestations, and other documents to support their contentions. Here I will summarize, but the important note that needs to be included at the top is that both Bitfinex and Tether once hired an auditor, but neither ever completed the audit.

Continue reading “A History of Tether and Bitfinex’s Audits, Attestations, Memos, and Letters: Both Promised and Actual” →

Tether Truthers and the Inconvenient Conspiracy Theories

~ Bennett Tomlin ~ 1 Comment

There is a reflexive tendency among those who defend Tether to categorise those who criticize Tether as ‘truthers’, akin to those who spread ‘Jet Fuel Doesn’t Melt Steel Beams’ in their Facebook group about how the earth is flat. This tendency is absurd when you consider the history of the accusations made by ‘truthers’ and the truths later revealed.

Continue reading “Tether Truthers and the Inconvenient Conspiracy Theories” →

A Non-Exhaustive List of Bitfinex and Tether’s Misdeeds and Red Flags

Featured ~ Bennett Tomlin ~ 2 Comments

A Non-Exhaustive List of Bitfinex and Tether’s Misdeeds and Red Flags – Bennett's Articles

https://bennettftomlin.com/2021/06/21/a-non-exhaustive-list-of-bitfinex-and-tethers-misdeeds-and-red-flags/

This is a living document that I intend to continue to update as I continue to research Bitfinex and Tether. I hope it will serve as a useful reference material for anyone who needs to try to keep in mind their many inappropriate behaviors. If you find any I missed, feel free to leave a comment. Update: since this is a living document I wanted to provide you an archive link of the original so you can see any changes that are made. You can find that here. If you believe I made a mistake then feel free to leave a comment. It is not an introduction or summary. For that you can look here:

An Introduction to the Tether/Bitfinex Controversy
Continue reading “A Non-Exhaustive List of Bitfinex and Tether’s Misdeeds and Red Flags” →

A Simple Deductive Argument Proving There Were Unbacked Tethers

~ Bennett Tomlin ~ 4 Comments

There are certain claims and objections that I have to respond to frequently. Some people will still claim that Tether has never had unbacked Tethers. I am attempting to create a valid and sound deductive argument that will conclusively prove that is untrue. I love philosophy and deductive reasoning, so may do a few of these. If you want to respond, please respond in a manner that addresses the deductive argument, either in form or in challenging the soundness of the premises.

Continue reading “A Simple Deductive Argument Proving There Were Unbacked Tethers” →