Five executives from a Filecoin mining service are facing a lawsuit at the People’s Court of Pingan County in China over allegations that they pocketed millions of dollars and left investors in ruin.
On Aug. 14, local media reported that the court held a public hearing on a case that could potentially set a precedent in China for how crypto schemes are prosecuted and regulated. The lawsuit accuses Shenzhen Space-Time Cloud Technology executives of setting up a pyramid scheme that amassed around $100 million and scammed their investors.
According to the report, defendants Lai Mouhang and Lai Moujun created the company in 2018. They hired other executives in the following years and expanded the company’s operations to promote investment opportunities connected with Filecoin’s rewards system and business model.
Prosecutors alleged that the defendants provided exaggerated profit predictions to attract participants into investing in their joint Filecoin mining endeavor. The lawsuit alleges the defendants sold storage servers and promised great returns in a pyramid structure.
The prosecutors claim the company got $100 million from more than 57,000 users. According to the prosecutors, the executives disrupted economic order by using deception to defraud participants.
Meanwhile, Chinese police have been facilitating a crackdown on crypto and deepfake artificial intelligence. On Aug. 10, Chinese authorities reported that there had been 79 cases of fraud involving deepfake AI, with 515 individuals arrested. At the same time, the authorities arrested 21 people who were suspected of being involved in a $54 million Tether (USDT) money laundering scheme.
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Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield has resigned from the Labour Party.
The 53-year-old MP is the first to jump ship since the general election and in her resignation letter criticised the prime minister for accepting thousands of pounds worth of gifts.
She told Sir Keir Starmer the reason for leaving now is “the programme of policies you seem determined to stick to”, despite their unpopularity with the electorate and MPs.
In her letter she accused the prime minister and his top team of “sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice” which are “off the scale”.
“I’m so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party,” she said.
Since December 2019, the prime minister received £107,145 in gifts, benefits, and hospitality – a specific category in parliament’s register of MPs’ interests.
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Ms Duffield, who has previously clashed with the prime minister on gender issues, attacked the government for pursuing “cruel and unnecessary” policies as she resigned the Labour whip.
She criticised the decision to keep the two-child benefit cap and means-test the winter fuel payment, and accused the prime minister of “hypocrisy” over his acceptance of free gifts from donors.
“Since the change of government in July, the revelations of hypocrisy have been staggering and increasingly outrageous,” she said.
“I cannot put into words how angry I and my colleagues are at your total lack of understanding about how you have made us all appear.”
Ms Duffield also mentioned the recent “treatment of Diane Abbott”, who said she thought she had been barred from standing by Labour ahead of the general election, before Sir Keir said she would be allowed to defend her Hackney North and Stoke Newington seat for the party.
Her relationship with the Labour leadership has long been strained and her decision to quit the party comes after seven other Labour MPs were suspended for rebelling by voting for a motion calling for the two-child benefit cap to be abolished.
“Someone with far-above-average wealth choosing to keep the Conservatives’ two-child limit to benefit payments which entrenches children in poverty, while inexplicably accepting expensive personal gifts of designer suits and glasses costing more than most of those people can grasp – this is entirely undeserving of holding the title of Labour prime minister,” she said.
Ms Duffield said she will continue to represent her constituents as an independent MP, “guided by my core Labour values”.