In re: Facebook, Inc. Consumer Privacy User Profile Litigation
Case No. 3:18-md-02843-VC
United States District Court for the Northern District of California
https://facebookuserprivacysettlement.com/

If you were a Facebook user in the United States between May 24, 2007, and December 22, 2022, inclusive, you may be eligible for a cash payment from a Class Action Settlement. 

Online CLAIM FORM https://facebookuserprivacysettlement.com/#submit-claim

Five Individuals Charged in $2M Virtual Asset and Securities Manipulation Scheme (DOJ Release)
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-individuals-charged-2m-virtual-asset-and-securities-manipulation-scheme
In the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, an Indictment was filed against Michael Kane, Shane Hampton, and George Wolvaardt charging them one count of conspiracy to commit securities price manipulation, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and two counts of wire fraud. Tyler Ostern (former Chief Executive Officer of Moonwalkers Trading Limited) and Andrew Chorlian (blockchain engineer at Hydrogen Technology) were each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit securities price manipulation and wire fraud. As alleged in part in the DOJ Release:

[F]rom around June 2018 through April 2019, Michael Kane, 38, of Miami; Shane Hampton, 31, of Philadelphia; and George Wolvaardt, 38, of Johannesburg, South Africa, allegedly conspired to manipulate the market for HYDRO, a token on the Ethereum blockchain platform, and defraud market participants by creating the false appearance of supply and demand for HYDRO to induce other market participants to trade at prices, quantities, and times that they otherwise would not have traded. The defendants allegedly used a trading bot to place thousands of orders that they did not intend to execute, or “spoof orders,” and thousands of orders where the bot bought and sold tokens to itself through the same account, or “wash trades.” The co-conspirators allegedly reaped $2 million in profit through their sales of HYDRO at artificially inflated prices.  

As alleged in the indictment, Kane was the co-founder and CEO of Hydrogen Technology and Hampton was the Chief of Financial Engineering for the company. Wolvaardt was the Chief Technology Officer for Moonwalkers Trading Limited, a self-described “market-making” firm that purportedly designed the trading bot and was hired by Kane and Hampton to manipulate the market for HYDRO.

Relatedly, Tyler Ostern, 29, of Coos Bay, Oregon, the former CEO of Moonwalkers, and Andrew Chorlian, 29, of New York, New York, a blockchain engineer at Hydrogen Technology, were also charged for their participation in the scheme.

IRB Brasil Agrees to Pay Shareholders $5M in Connection with Securities Fraud Scheme (DOJ Release)
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/irb-brasil-agrees-pay-shareholders-5m-connection-securities-fraud-scheme
IRB Brasil Resseguros SA, aka IRB Brasil RE (IRB) entered into a Non-Prosecution Agreement ("NPA") with DOJ, and agreed to pay $5 million in victim compensation. As alleged in part in the DOJ Release:

[IRB], through its former CFO, Fernando Passos, executed the fraud scheme beginning in February 2020 after an investment company published a report questioning the accuracy of IRB’s financial statements and announcing that the investment company had taken a short position against IRB’s stock. IRB’s stock price dropped in the wake of the report. In response, Passos developed and executed a scheme to mislead shareholders and the investing public by disseminating and causing to be disseminated materially false information that Berkshire Hathaway had invested in IRB, despite knowing that Berkshire Hathaway had not made any such investment. Passos circulated, and caused subordinate IRB investor relations employees to circulate, false materials to members of the press, analysts, and members of IRB’s board of directors to spread the false information regarding Berkshire Hathaway’s purported investment.  

News outlets in both Brazil and the United States began incorrectly reporting that Berkshire Hathaway had invested in IRB. Following the news coverage, on the evening of March 3, 2020, Berkshire Hathaway issued a press release stating that it was not currently, had never been, and had no intention of becoming a shareholder in IRB. On March 4, 2020, after Berkshire Hathaway’s press release, IRB’s stock price dropped precipitously, causing significant shareholder losses.  

As part of the NPA, IRB admitted that the facts described in the NPA constitute securities fraud. Under the terms of the NPA, IRB has agreed to continue cooperating with the Justice Department in other related investigations, to continue to implement a compliance and ethics program as set forth in the NPA, and to report to the department regarding the company’s remediation and implementation of the compliance measures as described in the NPA. Further, IRB has agreed to pay victim compensation of $5 million to shareholders who sold IRB stock on March 4, 2020. 

The department reached this resolution with IRB based on a number of factors, including, among others, the nature and seriousness of the offense conduct involving IRB’s former CFO, as well IRB’s cooperation and implementation of remedial measures. In addition, IRB and the department agreed that the total amount of losses to all shareholders who sold IRB stock on March 4, 2020, was significantly more than $5 million. However, despite agreeing that a larger amount otherwise would be appropriate based on the law and the facts, IRB made representations to the department that the company had an inability to pay a criminal monetary penalty and to cover the full loss to shareholders. Based on those representations, the department, with the assistance of a forensic accounting expert, conducted an independent inability-to-pay analysis, which determined that the payment of more than $5 million was reasonably likely to threaten the continued viability of IRB, which in turn may expose the company’s shareholders to a further risk of loss.

Passos has been indicted and is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.