Three news to start your week: November 25
US hacker sentenced over Bitcoin heist worth billions
(BBC)
A hacker has been sentenced to five years in a US prison for laundering proceeds from one of the largest cryptocurrency heists in history.
Ilya Lichtenstein pleaded guilty last year in connection with the 2016 hack of the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange, which resulted in the theft of nearly 120,000 bitcoins. He laundered the stolen cryptocurrency alongside his wife, Heather Morgan, who went by the alias Razzlekhan while promoting her hip-hop music.
At the time of the theft, the bitcoin was valued at approximately $70 million, but its worth skyrocketed to over $4.5 billion by the time of the arrest. Today, its value would be more than double that amount.
Trafigura Paid Bribes Via 'Mr. Non-Compliant', Swiss Prosecutors Say
(Bloomberg)
Swiss prosecutors have accused the Trafigura Group of funneling bribes to an Angolan official through a network of former employees, one of whom was infamously dubbed "Mr. Non-Compliant" by the company's late founder. The trading firm faces a court hearing for bribery charges alongside former senior executive Mike Wainwright, a Swiss intermediary referred to only as P., and senior Angolan public official Paulo Gouveia Junior.
A comprehensive 150-page indictment revealed the alleged mechanics of the bribery scheme and implicated Trafigura's late founder and CEO, Claude Dauphin, as a key figure in the operation. The indictment exposes a troubling pattern of alleged corruption among Trafigura's highest-ranking executives, including Dauphin. Despite numerous corruption cases involving commodity trading firms over the past four years, only a handful of mid-level traders have faced convictions.
Should Trafigura be found guilty, the company could incur a maximum fine of 5 million Swiss francs ($5.6 million)—roughly equivalent to its earnings from trading oil, metals, and other commodities every six hours last year—along with the requirement to repay illicit profits exceeding $140 million.
US Sanctions Gazprombank, Dozens of Other Russian Institutions
(The Wall Street Journal)
The United States will impose sanctions on Russia's Gazprombank, a vital financial institution linked to the nation's gas export sector, along with over 50 other financial entities, aiming to diminish Russia's access to the international finance system.
The Treasury Department announced that Gazprombank, Russia's third-largest and previously the most significant bank not subjected to Western sanctions, would be added to the US sanctions list.
The US government claims that Gazprombank is being used as a channel for Russia to procure military supplies, finance its soldiers, and provide compensation to the families of service members killed in the Ukraine conflict.
These sanctions come just days after the Biden administration escalated military pressure on Russia by permitting Ukraine to deploy long-range US-made missiles into Russian territory. In response, Russia modified its nuclear engagement policies; however, Washington has characterized this move as mere saber rattling.
