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Struggling Crypto Investor Ordered to Return $1.9 Million Withdrawn from Bankrupt Company
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A prominent cryptocurrency investor has been ordered by a Delaware court to return nearly $2 million he allegedly stole from a bankrupt company he was assigned to oversee.
Thursday’s ruling largely upheld a court-appointed investigator’s finding that Thomas Braziel had misappropriated funds from a publicly traded company known as Fund.com, which were used to invest in “bankruptcy claims, cryptocurrencyleveraged loans and junk stocks,” as well as a Bermuda hotelier.
Braziel spent nearly $1 million of company funds on items including a sapphire ring, diamond earrings, a watch and “luxury hotel stays, clothing, art and other fine items,” according to the Delaware Chancery Court ruling.
Braziel and his attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Braziel has gained prominence on social media devoted to digital currencies and Wall Street, describing himself on X as “the struggling crypto guy.” His firm 117 Partners specializes in brokerage bankruptcy claims, a business that grew after the 2008 financial crisis but has been dormant in recent years.
However, claims related to failed crypto companies — especially those from FTX, the failed exchange founded by Sam Bankman-Fried — have revived the market. Recently, some have proved highly lucrative. In May, FTX said account holders would receive 118 cents on the dollar for their claims, a blow to crypto investors devastated by the company’s collapse more than a year earlier.
Even before FTX agreed to pay creditors that much, Braziel had positioned himself to broker millions of dollars in claims: 117 Partners said on its website that it had brokered more than $300 million in FTX claims. In December, The New York Times reported introduced him in a story about the “hot new market” of cryptocurrency bankruptcy filings.
Braziel was initially tasked as receiver in 2016 with liquidating Fund.com, where he was previously an investor. He later sought and received court permission to restart the company as an investment vehicle.
Later, a shareholder of the company accused him of irregularities as a receiver, and the court appointed a special magistrate to investigate the allegations, which were found to be true.
In addition to buying gemstones and other luxury goods, Braziel invested the illicit funds, the court found. The Delaware court noted that “many of these investments produced outside gains” that could be recovered by the company he oversaw in bankruptcy protection.
The court noted that Braziel eventually largely admitted the special magistrate’s findings, though he initially tried to cover his tracks. “Braziel also attempted to conceal his own trading,” citing bank records that he altered for tax purposes, the court said.
On Thursday afternoon, Braziel posted on X: “I’m on a roll — I’m very lucky — but I’m not giving up.”
Bitcoin has lost out on an asset rally fueled by positive comments from the Federal Reserve, while a tight US election race casts doubt on whether Donald Trump will get the chance to implement his pro-crypto agenda.
The digital asset fell 2.4% on Wednesday, following a Fed-fueled surge in an index of megacap tech stocks Magnificent Seven by one of the largest margins in 2024. The token retreated further on Thursday, changing hands at $63,750 as of 6:10 a.m. in London.
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‘This is huge’ — Billionaire Mark Cuban issues ‘incredible’ Bitcoin and crypto prediction amid price slump
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Bitcoin
came back with a vengeance this year when former President Donald Trump Cryptocurrency boosts US presidential election in November with ‘revolutionary’ plan.
The price of bitcoin has surged to more than its all-time high in recent months, surpassing $70,000 per bitcoin and triggering a wave of mega-optimistic predictions about the price of bitcointhough it fell again this week, falling below $65,000 after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady.
Now, as Elon Musk suddenly breaks his silence on bitcoin and cryptocurrenciesBillionaire investor Mark Cuban called a California plan to digitize 42 million car titles using blockchain an “incredible step forward” and “huge” for cryptocurrencies.
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Mark Cuban, famous Shark Tank investor and billionaire owner of the NBA team Dallas Mavericks, has… [+] called a cryptocurrency update “amazing” amid bitcoin’s price slump.
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The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has digitized 42 million car titles using blockchain, it was reported by Reuters, through technology company Oxhead Alpha on the Avalanche blockchain and designed to detect fraud and facilitate the securities transfer process.
“This is an incredible development for crypto,” Cuban, best known as an investor on TV’s Shark Tank and owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team, posted on X, joking that U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler could sue the state as part of his hostility toward cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.
“The reason this is huge for crypto is because people who hold the tokens will have an app with an Avalanche wallet,” Cuban said. “Tens of millions of Californians having and using a crypto wallet in the next five years, or however long it takes, normalizes the use of wallets and crypto.”
John Wu, president of Avalanche developer Ava Labs, told Reuters that California’s DMV is “creating a wallet that you can download on your phone.”
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Bitcoin’s price has rallied this year, triggering a wave of bullish bitcoin price predictions from… [+] people like billionaire Mark Cuban.
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Last month, Cuban predicted that if the US dollar falls as the global reserve currency, bitcoin could become “a global ‘safe haven’” and a “global currency.” potentially sending the price of bitcoin to a much higher level.
According to Cuban, bitcoin could become what its most ardent supporters “envision” — a means “of protecting our economies… This is already happening in countries facing hyperinflation.”
The price of bitcoin has skyrocketed over the past year, largely due to the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, leading a bitcoin attack on Wall Street.
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At a national bitcoin conference in Nashville, Donald Trump finally laid out some of his crypto policy proposals, including a long-awaited part of his plan — building a strategic bitcoin reserve. CNN’s Jon Sarlin explains what it is and why the crypto industry wants it.
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