Australian Regulator Takes Action Against Binance Australia Derivatives
On December 18th, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) filed legal action against Binance Australia Derivatives for alleged consumer protection failures.
ASIC’s Allegations Against Binance Australia Derivatives
In a news release, ASIC claimed that the crypto derivatives trading platform had misclassified over 500 retail clients as wholesale investors between July 2022 and April 2023. By classifying these retail clients as wholesale investors, the Australian regulator claims that Binance Australia Derivatives stripped the retail clients of legal protections afforded them under Australian financial laws.
The ASIC stated in the filing that retail clients are entitled to stronger consumer protections and described Binance Australia Derivatives’ alleged misclassification as ‘woefully inadequate.’
Interpol Issues Red Notice for Hex Founder Richard Heart
On December 22nd, Interpol, the world’s largest international police organization, issued a Red Notice for the founder of Hex, Richard Schueler — also known as Richard Heart. The police organization issued the notice – a global request for law enforcement to locate and provisionally arrest a person – for Schueler’s alleged tax fraud and assault of a 16-year-old victim.
The Hex founder was also listed on Europe’s most-wanted fugitives list, where the same allegations of assault and tax fraud were described in more detail.
Tornado Cash Dev Wants Charges Dropped After Court Ruling
Roman Storm, the co-founder of crypto mixing platform Tornado Cash, told a United States federal judge that his charges should be dropped after an appeals court found sanctions against the platform’s smart contracts unlawful. In his December 18th motion in the Manhattan District Court, Storm said that a separate case found that the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) exceeded its authority in sanctioning Tornado Cash’s smart contracts.
Storm said in the motion that the findings of the case against OFAC made it clear that ‘all three counts of the indictment are fatally and legally flawed.’
South Korean Prosecutors Seek 6 Months for Lawmaker Who Allegedly Hid Crypto
Kim Nam-kuk, a South Korea National Assembly member, faces a six-month jail sentence for allegedly not reporting his entire cryptocurrency holdings to the government. Kim allegedly reported that his total holdings were worth 1.2 billion Korean won ($825,600) in 2021 despite owning 9.9 billion won in digital assets and concealing 990 million won in crypto holdings in 2022.
In a December 18th report from South Korean news outlet Dong-A Ilbo, prosecutors reportedly said Kim ‘obstructed the National Assembly Ethics Committee’s review’ of his assets.
Exploring Crypto Laws and Regulations
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