There’s an $814 Million Mystery Near the Heart of the Biggest Bitcoin Exchange

After Wells Fargo severed ties, Tether won’t name its banks

Bitfinex says it’s hired a law firm to contest false claims

Among the many mysteries at the heart of the cryptocurrency market are these: Does $814 million of a digital token known as tether really exist? And what is tether’s connection to Bitfinex, the world’s biggest bitcoin exchange?

This is the state of crypto in late 2017, where questions about the companies behind the currencies are multiplying with the profits. While cryptocurrencies appeal to people who lack faith in governments and banks, the digital assets often require a blind trust in companies about which few facts are available. read more »

Two more illustrious Japanese firms admit to falsifying quality data

Toray Industries, a textiles and chemicals giant, is the latest pillar of corporate Japan to admit to quality problems. This week a subsidiary said it had faked inspections on reinforcement cords used to strengthen car tyres. Sadayuki Sakakibara, a former president of Toray, said he was “ashamed” and apologised on behalf of Keidanren, the powerful business lobby he now heads. On November 23rd, Mitsubishi Materials sheepishly confessed (during a public holiday) that its subsidiaries had falsified data, on aluminium and other products used in aircraft and cars, given to customers in Japan, America, China and Taiwan. Those customers include Japan’s air force, earning a rebuke from Itsunori Onodera, the defence minister. read more »

Former Company Insider Earns More Than $4.1 Million for Whistleblower Tip

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced an award of more than $4.1 million to a former company insider who alerted the agency to a widespread, multi-year securities law violation and continued to provide important information and assistance throughout the SEC’s investigation.  The whistleblower is the third awarded by the SEC in the past week. read more »

Digital Display Advertising Firm, Executives Charged With Bilking Investors

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a Seattle-area outdoor digital signage advertising company and two of its senior executives with stealing more than $2 million from retail investors.

According to the SEC’s complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, Digi Outdoor Media Inc.’s former chief executive officer, Donald MacCord Jr., and chief financial officer Shannon Doyle raised nearly $4.5 million in promissory notes by claiming they would use investor money to construct and install digital signs for commercial advertising around Washington, D.C.  Instead, the complaint alleges that MacCord and Doyle secretly diverted millions of dollars of investor money for their own personal use, including MacCord’s luxury cars, $20,000 per month rent on a Southern California mansion, nanny and housekeeping services, and private school tuition for his children, while Doyle diverted several hundred thousand dollars to his other unrelated businesses. read more »