NY Woman Pleads Guilty in $30 Million Green Card, Political Access Scheme
Sherry Xue Li, 53, a China-born, naturalized U.S. citizen and resident of Oyster Bay, admitted to defrauding more than 150 people who invested more than $31.5 million in her fake development project, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn said.
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Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Arkham Says $3.5B LuBian Bitcoin Theft Went Undetected for Nearly Five Years
A crypto wallet tied to a little-known Chinese mining pool may have been the victim of the largest bitcoin theft ever recorded, according to new findings from Arkham Intelligence. In an Aug. 2 thread on X, the onchain analytics firm said it had uncovered evidence that 127,426 BTC — worth $3.5 billion at the time — was stolen from LuBian Mining Pool in late December 2020. Neither LuBian nor the suspected hacker has ever publicly acknowledged the breach, and Arkham said it is the first to report the incident. LuBian was one of the largest bitcoin mining pools globally in 2020, reportedly controlling nearly 6% of Bitcoin's total hash rate as of May that year. The hack, if confirmed, would eclipse the scale of other high-profile exploits like Mt. Gox and Bitfinex by nominal value at the time of loss. Arkham's analysis indicates that on Dec. 28, 2020, more than 90% of LuBian's BTC holdings were drained. Two days later, another theft involving about $6 million worth of BTC and USDT occurred, linked to a LuBian address operating on the Bitcoin Omni layer. The company appears to have moved its remaining 11,886 BTC — then worth hundreds of millions — into recovery wallets by Dec. 31, 2020. A notable detail in Arkham's report is the presence of OP_RETURN messages — special transactions that allow data to be embedded in the Bitcoin blockchain — sent from LuBian to the hacker. According to Arkham, the mining pool spent 1.4 BTC across over 1,500 transactions attempting to contact the thief, urging them to return the stolen funds. This effort suggests the messages were genuine and originated from the rightful wallet owner. Arkham believes the vulnerability may have stemmed from LuBian's use of a flawed private key generation algorithm that left it susceptible to brute-force attacks. The stolen BTC has apparently remained largely dormant, with the last major movement being a wallet consolidation in July 2024. Due to the price appreciation of bitcoin since 2020, the current value of the stolen assets is estimated to be $14.5 billion. That makes the wallet associated with the LuBian hacker the 13th largest BTC holder tracked by Arkham — surpassing the holdings linked to the Mt. Gox breach. As of today, both the hacker and LuBian are believed to still control their respective BTC balances. Arkham has published wallet trackers for both parties, but no additional details about the identities involved have been disclosed. Sign in to access your portfolio
San Francisco Chronicle
14 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
California man sent funds to Islamic State terrorists, feds say: ‘I'll be joining'
A California man was arrested on suspicion of sending a dozen payments to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, telling a fighter that he would be joining the terrorist organization, federal investigators said. Mark Lorenzo Villanueva, 28, of Long Beach was charged Friday with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, a felony that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office Central District of California. Villanueva sent 12 payments totaling $1,615 over a five-month period to two Islamic state intermediaries who accessed the funds overseas, according to an affidavit filed with the federal complaint, citing Western Union records. Villanueva, a documented permanent U.S. resident from the Philippines, had asked a self-identified Islamic State fighter via social media whether the funds would 'cover your equipment and your weapons,' the federal complaint says. 'It's an honor to fight and die for our faith. It's the best way to go to heaven,' he told the self-identified fighter, the complaint says. 'Someday soon, I'll be joining.' Villanueva told another self-identified Islamic State fighter that he possessed a bomb and knives, and the FBI recovered an apparent explosive device during a search of his bedroom, investigators said. 'Supporting a terrorist group, whether at home or abroad, is a serious risk to our national security,' said acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli. 'We will aggressively hunt down and prosecute anyone who provides support or comfort to our enemies.'
San Francisco Chronicle
16 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Rival anti-migrant and anti-racism protests face off outside a hotel housing migrants in London
LONDON (AP) — Anti-immigrant and anti-racism demonstrators faced off in London on Saturday in the latest in a series of protests outside hotels housing asylum-seekers. Several hundred protesters waving Union Jacks gathered outside the Thistle City Barbican Hotel in central London, calling for it to be closed as housing for migrants. Chants including 'Scum' and 'Britain is full' were directed at the hotel. Police separated the demonstrators from a larger group of counter-protesters chanting 'refugees are welcome here,' as people inside the hotel watched from windows. Protests against migrants have taken place in recent weeks in Epping, a town on the outskirts of London where an asylum-seeker was accused of sexual assault, and in a smattering of other towns in England. Protesters say they are concerned about the safety risk posed by the migrants, many of them young men who have recently arrived in Britain in dinghies across the English Channel. The demonstrations have drawn local people, but have also been attended, and in some cases organized, by far-right groups. The protests come a year after several days of anti-immigrant rioting across England and Northern Ireland. Crowds in more than two dozen towns attacked hotels housing migrants, as well as mosques, police stations and a library. Some rioters targeted non-white people and threw bricks and fireworks at police. The summer 2024 violence was sparked when three girls were stabbed to death at a summer dance class in the town of Southport, and online misinformation identified the attacker as a recently arrived migrant. In fact, killer Axel Rudakubana was a British-born 17-year-old. Experts and community groups warn that the mix of anger, fear, misinformation and political agitating that fueled that violence could erupt again, though protests this summer have been small and largely peaceful.
