Three news to start your week: January 29
Ukraine uncovered a $40 million corruption scheme in weapons purchase
(CNN)
Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) announced that it had uncovered a widespread corruption scheme involving the military's acquisition of weaponry for nearly $40 million (1.5 billion Ukrainian hryvnia).
According to the SBU, in the fall of 2022, 100,000 mortar rounds were purchased for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Although the Ukraine Defense Ministry paid Lviv Arsenal, a supplier of weapons, almost all of the money, the ammunition was never delivered. Instead, it stated that a portion of the money had been moved to accounts abroad, including ones in the Balkans.
The investigation discovered that the head and chief commercial of Lviv Arsenal, a representative of a foreign commercial group, and high-ranking defense officials from the past and present were involved in the fraud.
Binance and SEC face off over regulator's crypto oversight
(Reuters)
As Binance urged a federal judge to dismiss the US Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) case against the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, the SEC defended its authority to oversee certain cryptocurrency assets in court.
The hearing regarding Binance's request was the second highly anticipated legal dispute in less than a week that may clarify the SEC's regulatory authority over the cryptocurrency industry. Coinbase and the SEC argued about similar issues last week.
Binance has requested that US Judge Amy Berman Jackson dismiss a lawsuit brought by the SEC, which claimed that Binance had committed fraud and breached its regulations; Jackson said she would take the matter under advisement rather than ruling from the bench. The lawsuit is one of Binance's final legal challenges in the United States.
Pastor charged with crypto fraud said God told him to do it
(Independent)
A pastor in Colorado charged with managing a $3 million cryptocurrency scam alongside his spouse asserts that he followed "the Lord's" advice to pursue the business.
According to a press release by the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, Eligio "Eli" Regalado and his wife, Kaitlyn Regalado, have been charged with civil fraud offenses by the Colorado Division of Securities after their cryptocurrency, INDXcoin, made nearly $3.2 million from over 300 users.
The couple allegedly "created, marketed, and sold a cryptocurrency" to Christians, according to the complaint, telling them that God had told him investors would become wealthy if they invested in INDXcoin.
