Latest news with #BitTorrent
Business Mayor
24-05-2025
- Business Mayor
Italian businessman tortured for weeks with chainsaw and Taser in luxury New York apartment by crypto investor, police say
The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US A cryptocurrency investor from Kentucky was arrested in Manhattan on Friday after allegedly holding an Italian businessman captive for more than two weeks in a luxury SoHo apartment. John Woeltz, 37, has been charged with two counts of assault, kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, and criminal possession of a weapon, according to the New York City Police Department. A bloody and bruised 28-year-old businessman, who has not been publicly identified, allegedly escaped Woeltz's Prince Street apartment hours before he believed he would be killed. The man approached a nearby traffic agent, who then called police. Rents in SoHo are high. That on Woeltz's apartment is thought to be between $30,000 and $40,000 a month (Getty Images) Woeltz was arraigned in Manhattan criminal court on Saturday. He is being held without bail and was forced to surrender his passport, according to the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. The businessman claimed he arrived in New York from Italy on May 6 and went to Woeltz's apartment, where Woeltz stole his electronic devices and his passport then demanded the businessman's Bitcoin password. When he refused, Woeltz and another man held him captive for more than two weeks of torture, including shocking him with wires, holding a gun to his head, and suspending him over the ledge of the five-story building, according to a criminal complaint. He was bound with electrical cords, tasered while his feet were in water, pistol-whipped, forced to take cocaine, and threatened with having his limbs cut off with an electric chainsaw, according to police. Read More TRON and BitTorrent are exploring zkEVM integration The abuse continued until the victim escaped on Friday morning. When police entered Woeltz's apartment, they reportedly found Polaroids depicting the man being tied up with electrical wire, tortured, and bound to a chair with a gun pointed to his head. The Polaroids were likely used to extort money from either the victim or his family in Italy, police said. Officers also found guns and several torture devices in the apartment, reportedly rented for $30,000 to $40,000 a month. Police found no other victims in the apartment. Officials also arrested Beatrice Folchi, 24, of Manhattan, on Saturday, on kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment charges stemming from the incident. Folchi's alleged role or relationship to Woeltz is unclear. Police are still searching for another male suspect. The allegations follow a string of reported attacks targeting crypto investors and executives for access to accounts worth millions of dollars locked behind sophisticated encryption. Neighbors were shocked by news of the alleged crimes. 'This is definitely the strangest thing I've seen in my time here,' Ciaran Tully, who works across the street from Woeltz's apartment building, told The New York Post. Tully claimed he saw a barefoot Woeltz detained in a white bathrobe. 'Normally, this is a pretty quiet block,' he said. 'I just can't believe stuff like this would happen in 2025 in New York of all places,' Midtown resident Kareem Hakemy told CBS News. 'This is our borough, our neighborhood. … We have to be careful.'
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Crypto billionaire Justin Sun stakes claim as top Trump memecoin holder
A cryptocurrency magnate, who is in talks to settle fraud charges with federal regulators, says he is the top holder of President Donald Trump's memecoin and will be attending a private dinner with the president this week. Justin Sun, a Chinese-born crypto entrepreneur who was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2023, wrote in a post on Xthat he was atop a leaderboard of holders of the $TRUMP memecoin — a collectible token issued by the president — and will be attending the dinner Thursday. The event will take place at the president's golf club in Virginia, involving dozens of those who took on major stakes in the collectible token. "Honored to support @POTUS and grateful for the invitation from @GetTrumpMemes to attend President Trump's Gala Dinner as his TOP fan!" Sun wrote Monday night. "As the top holder of $TRUMP, I'm excited to connect with everyone, talk crypto, and discuss the future of our industry." The memecoin dinner, which is being sponsored by the token's official backers, has drawn bipartisan backlash in Washington over concerns that the organizers effectively auctioned off access to Trump and that attendees may be looking to curry favor with the president. In addition to the dinner, which is being held for the top 220 memecoin investors, Trump is expected to appear for a private reception that is being held for the 25 biggest holders, a group that will include Sun. The White House has repeatedly rejected any conflict-of-interest concerns surrounding the memecoin dinner. An official who was granted anonymity to speak freely about the event, said Monday that the memecoin "has nothing to do with the White House." Sun's attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday. SEC Chair Paul Atkins told lawmakers that he doesn't know anything about Sun's case, when asked about it at a congressional hearing Tuesday. Memecoins are a type of crypto asset with no underlying business purpose and are generally equated with Beanie Babies and baseball cards. Trump's $TRUMP memecoin — 80 percent of which is still controlled by a Trump Organization affiliate as well as another entity called Fight Fight Fight LLC — launched just days before his inauguration. Sun had been widely speculated to be the top $TRUMP memecoin holder for weeks but had yet to confirm his stake in the token until his post Monday. In taking on the position, he is doubling down on the Trump family's burgeoning crypto empire, which also includes the digital assets venture World Liberty Financial. He is a major investor in World Liberty Financial's WLFI token. Blockchain records show that the crypto account that Sun is claiming control of held nearly $20 million worth of the $TRUMP memecoin, as of Tuesday afternoon. In 2023, the SEC sued Sun, whose digital asset ventures include Tron and BitTorrent, for allegedly offering and selling crypto tokens that weren't registered with the Wall Street regulator. Earlier this year, in the middle of a sweeping pullback from crypto enforcement by the administration, Trump's SEC and Sun's attorneys said in court filings that they were working on "a potential resolution" of the case. The memecoin dinner comes as Trump's administration and lawmakers begin to push through new rules for the crypto markets, which the industry had long clamored for. On Monday, senators advanced a landmark crypto bill known as the GENIUS Act that proposes a regulatory framework for stablecoins — a type of crypto token whose value is pegged to the U.S. dollar. Sen. Elizabeth Warren — a top critic of the bill — used the news of Sun's position in the memecoin to blast the legislation. "How convenient: the day after the Senate advances the GENIUS Act, Justin Sun — a major investor in the Trump family crypto venture — announces he's getting a private dinner as the President's top crypto buyer," the Massachusetts Democrat said in a statement to POLITICO. "It's critical that everyone understands the GENIUS Act doesn't stop this type of corruption — it greenlights it."
Politico
20-05-2025
- Business
- Politico
Crypto billionaire Justin Sun stakes claim as top Trump memecoin holder
A cryptocurrency magnate, who is in talks to settle fraud charges with federal regulators, says he is the top holder of President Donald Trump's memecoin and will be attending a private dinner with the president this week. Justin Sun, a Chinese-born crypto entrepreneur who was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2023, wrote in a post on X that he was atop a leaderboard of holders of the $TRUMP memecoin — a collectible token issued by the president — and will be attending the dinner Thursday. The event will take place at the president's golf club in Virginia, involving dozens of those who took on major stakes in the collectible token. 'Honored to support @POTUS and grateful for the invitation from @GetTrumpMemes to attend President Trump's Gala Dinner as his TOP fan!' Sun wrote Monday night. 'As the top holder of $TRUMP, I'm excited to connect with everyone, talk crypto, and discuss the future of our industry.' The memecoin dinner, which is being sponsored by the token's official backers, has drawn bipartisan backlash in Washington over concerns that the organizers effectively auctioned off access to Trump and that attendees may be looking to curry favor with the president. In addition to the dinner, which is being held for the top 220 memecoin investors, Trump is expected to appear for a private reception that is being held for the 25 biggest holders, a group that will include Sun. The White House has repeatedly rejected any conflict-of-interest concerns surrounding the memecoin dinner. An official who was granted anonymity to speak freely about the event, said Monday that the memecoin 'has nothing to do with the White House.' Sun's attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday. SEC Chair Paul Atkins told lawmakers that he doesn't know anything about Sun's case, when asked about it at a congressional hearing Tuesday. Memecoins are a type of crypto asset with no underlying business purpose and are generally equated with Beanie Babies and baseball cards. Trump's $TRUMP memecoin — 80 percent of which is still controlled by a Trump Organization affiliate as well as another entity called Fight Fight Fight LLC — launched just days before his inauguration. Sun had been widely speculated to be the top $TRUMP memecoin holder for weeks but had yet to confirm his stake in the token until his post Monday. In taking on the position, he is doubling down on the Trump family's burgeoning crypto empire, which also includes the digital assets venture World Liberty Financial. He is a major investor in World Liberty Financial's WLFI token. Blockchain records show that the crypto account that Sun is claiming control of held nearly $20 million worth of the $TRUMP memecoin, as of Tuesday afternoon. In 2023, the SEC sued Sun, whose digital asset ventures include Tron and BitTorrent, for allegedly offering and selling crypto tokens that weren't registered with the Wall Street regulator. Earlier this year, in the middle of a sweeping pullback from crypto enforcement by the administration, Trump's SEC and Sun's attorneys said in court filings that they were working on 'a potential resolution' of the case. The memecoin dinner comes as Trump's administration and lawmakers begin to push through new rules for the crypto markets, which the industry had long clamored for. On Monday, senators advanced a landmark crypto bill known as the GENIUS Act that proposes a regulatory framework for stablecoins — a type of crypto token whose value is pegged to the U.S. dollar. Sen. Elizabeth Warren — a top critic of the bill — used the news of Sun's position in the memecoin to blast the legislation. 'How convenient: the day after the Senate advances the GENIUS Act, Justin Sun — a major investor in the Trump family crypto venture — announces he's getting a private dinner as the President's top crypto buyer,' the Massachusetts Democrat said in a statement to POLITICO. 'It's critical that everyone understands the GENIUS Act doesn't stop this type of corruption — it greenlights it.'
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Here's Why ICON Rebranded to SODAX and Abandoned its Layer-1
The last time ICON (ICX) was making headlines, it was at the height of the ICO bubble when it was competing with Tron and Filecoin to buy BitTorrent in a high-profile bidding war. ICON, once heralded as the 'Korean Ethereum,' peaked early in 2018 but later struggled to retain relevance amid fierce competition and a changing narrative. Now, ICON is back in the news, as it recently announced that it has rebranded to SODAX and is migrating its entire DeFi infrastructure from its own Layer-1 blockchain to Sonic, an EVM-compatible network focused on high-speed, low-cost transactions. Sonic itself is a product of a rebrand, shifting from the name Fantom in 2024. In an interview with CoinDesk, ICON founder Min Kim explained the logic behind shifting from running an independent blockchain to effectively outsourcing that part of the operation to Sonic's Layer-1 infrastructure. 'Back in 2017, we had to build our own Layer-1 because there wasn't any other infrastructure available,' Kim said. 'Today, buying and maintaining your own Layer-1 property just doesn't make sense anymore because there are cheaper, better options available.' According to Kim, outsourcing infrastructure to Sonic allows his team to streamline expenses and sharpen their strategic focus on DeFi products. 'It significantly cuts our operating expenses by millions of dollars,' Kim told CoinDesk. 'There's less inflation for our tokens, and all of this just makes financial sense.' This isn't all that dissimilar from the manufacturing world. Foxconn and Taiwan Semiconductor are billion-dollar companies because firms like Apple and Nvidia don't have their own factories. Similarly, ICON no longer needs to bear the high fixed costs and risks associated with running an entire blockchain. 'Maintaining a decentralized network with validators around the world is a huge undertaking,' Kim explained. 'We have eight years of experience running our own Layer-1. It's tedious, costly, and very stressful. Outsourcing to Sonic allows us to focus on innovation and delivering products that people actually want.' Kim also highlighted the risk reduction benefits, noting that ICON's DeFi layer can remain unaffected by infrastructure issues at Sonic, creating a valuable risk separation. 'There's de-risking,' he explained. 'If Sonic gets hacked, obviously it's bad, but it's not directly our fault. Sonic focuses solely on security and validator infrastructure, so we and other DeFi builders can focus on creating applications closer to end-users.' The strategy comes as ICON seeks to reinvent itself amid diminished market influence. Once a top 20 cryptocurrency, ICON's ICX token crashed nearly 99% from its all-time highs by late 2018, and has since not recovered, according to CoinGecko data, as investors moved toward platforms better able to capitalize on the rise of DeFi and NFTs. 'Layer-1 infrastructure just doesn't make sense for most projects,' Kim argued. 'Many underestimated the effort, the capital expenses involved. There's been a misguided premium investors placed on Layer-1 projects, thinking an ecosystem would naturally build itself. But that's costly and rarely sustainable.' Now rebranded as SODAX and focused on cross-chain liquidity products, the project is migrating ICX tokens to a new token, SODA. While Sonic and SODAX's tokens remain distinct, Kim emphasized that Sonic's fee-monetization mechanisms will channel transaction fees back to SODA holders. 'Sonic allows 90% of transaction fees to flow back to SODA token holders,' Kim noted, underscoring the economic incentive of their strategic pivot. Asked if this outsourcing model represents a broader trend, Kim predicted that many projects currently running Layer-1s will likely reconsider as market cycles shift. 'Ethereum and Solana are great examples as they're fully focused on validators and network security," he said. "We're at the forefront of reversing the trend of launching your own Layer-1s. It's just not viable for most projects long-term.' As the era of premium valuations for proprietary Layer-1 platforms ends, more projects, Kim said, are going to just focus on the product and not the infrastructure with ICON – now SODAX – leading the way on this. 'We're going back to basics, lowering our costs, streamlining operations, and doubling down on what we originally wanted to do: put financial products directly into people's hands.'Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Yahoo
Recidivist sex offender sentenced for possession of child sexual abuse material
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — A recidivist sex offender was sentenced to 10 years in prison for possession of child sexual abuse material. Registered sex offender Ricky Grover Aaron, 62, of Charlotte, was also ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release and pay restitution to his victims. According to court documents and the sentencing hearing, the FBI was conducting an undercover online investigation to identify individuals sharing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) using peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. Investigators determined that Aaron was utilizing a BitTorrent application to make CSAM available for others, and on multiple occasions, were able to download CSAM files from one or more of Aaron's electronic devices. In November 2022, a search warrant was executed at Aaron's residence. Several electronic devices were seized and forensically examined. In total, investigators found that Aaron possessed the equivalent (when taking videos into account) of more than 300,000 CSAM images that depicted minors, including infants, toddlers, and children under the age of 12, being sexually abused and exploited. At the sentencing hearing, the Court also heard that Aaron failed to register as a sex offender inMecklenburg County, after he moved to North Carolina, as he was required to do. Aaron had two convictions prior to this one: a federal conviction for receipt and possession of CSAM and a state conviction for false imprisonment and aggravated exploitation of a minor in Tennessee. Under the provisions of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, convicted sex offenders are required to register with the Sex Offender Registry Board in any state or jurisdiction where they work or reside. On October 29, 2024, Aaron pled guilty to possession of child pornography involving aprepubescent minor or a minor who had not attained age 12. He is in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat thegrowing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by theDepartment of Justice. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
