Enforcement Actions

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) removed 3,106 fraudulent cryptocurrency investment platforms during FY26, marking a near-30% increase from the previous financial year, the regulator announced Aug. 17. The surge is driven by criminals deploying generative AI, deepfake

According to ASIC's Aug 17 fiscal year 2026 release, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission removed 3,106 fraudulent cryptocurrency investment platforms during FY26, a near-30% increase from FY25. Total online scam takedowns surged 182% to more than 19,400 across the year,

Polymarket, an overseas prediction market platform, had its access blocked in South Korea as of the 20th (Korean time), two days after the Korea Communications Standards Commission (방송미디어통신심의위원회) voted to block the site on the 18th (Korean time). The regulator determined Polymarket constitutes

According to South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service (FSC), the regulator launched an AI-powered market surveillance system on August 20 to detect unfair trading in digital assets in real-time. The system combines generative AI and machine learning algorithms to identify suspicious

On August 20, Polymarket users in South Korea faced access restrictions displaying an HTTP 451 error—a status code used to indicate content blocked for legal reasons. The action follows the South Korea Broadcasting-Communication Ethics Committee's decision on August 18 to block the prediction market

Edward Zimbardi was deported from Fiji on August 14 and faces federal charges in the Northern District of Georgia for allegedly orchestrating a $165 million digital asset fraud scheme. Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment on Aug. 17 charging Zimbardi with operating 'The Crypto Program'

According to federal prosecutors in the Northern District of Georgia, Edward Zimbardi was deported from Fiji on August 14 and made his initial court appearance after facing federal charges for orchestrating a $165 million cryptocurrency investment fraud scheme. Zimbardi allegedly promoted an

Police officers in the Leningrad Region detained a 29-year-old resident of Kingisepp suspected of stealing cryptocurrency worth more than 9.8 million rubles from a cold wallet. According to investigators, in March the suspect gained access, by an unspecified method, to the hardware crypto wallet of an assistant to the CEO of an unnamed commercial organization and transferred the digital assets to another address. Detention and Investigative Actions Police searched the suspect’s home and seized t

According to ASIC, in fiscal 2026, Australia's securities watchdog shut down over 3,100 crypto investment scam platforms, up approximately 30% from the prior fiscal year. The regulator revealed that fraud rings are systematically exploiting generative AI technology, using deepfake videos

According to CFTC, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued supplemental orders against former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison and former Alameda/FTX co-founder Gary Wang. Ellison received a 5-year trading ban and 10-year registration ban, while Wang received a 5-year trading ban and 8-year

Singapore's Police Force Online Criminal Harms Act Office issued a Code of Practice on August 17 requiring Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to block financial-services advertisements from reaching Singapore users unless advertisers hold required local authorization, with a compliance deadline of

X suspended more than 10 linked cryptocurrency-focused accounts around Aug. 18 after Nikita Bier alleged one operator drained over $250,000 from the platform's revenue-sharing program across two years. The primary account, @Vivek4real_ operated under the name Vivek Sen with approximately 270,000

According to Nikita Bier, X suspended more than 10 linked crypto accounts on Aug. 18 after uncovering an alleged $250,000 content farm scheme. The operator, running @Vivek4real_ and related accounts with over 270,000 followers combined, had reportedly drained X's revenue-sharing program over two

According to the CFTC, on Aug. 19, Caroline Ellison received a five-year trading ban and 10-year registration ban, while Gary Wang was imposed a five-year trading ban and eight-year registration ban. Both supplemental consent orders were entered by a federal court in New York. The CFTC's Director

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed consent orders Tuesday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York against former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Zixiao "Gary" Wang. The orders impose five-year trading bans on both executives, a 10-year r

According to the CFTC, on August 19, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission reached enforcement settlements with former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang. Ellison was issued a 5-year trading ban and 10-year registration ban, while Wang received a 5-year trading ban and

Behavox expanded its Polaris trading surveillance platform to cover Prediction Markets, adding them as the tenth asset class in the company's compliance framework. The company stated that Prediction Markets coverage is now available in beta for existing Polaris clients, with general availability exp

Edward Zimbardi, 59, of Flowery Branch, Georgia, appeared in federal court after Fijian authorities deported him to the United States on Aug. 14, working alongside the FBI and the State Department. Prosecutors charged him with 12 counts of wire fraud, 12 counts of money laundering, and one count of

According to the Justice Department, Edward Zimbardi, 59, of Georgia, was deported from Fiji to the United States on August 14 following coordination between Fijian authorities, the FBI, and the State Department. Zimbardi appeared in federal court to face 12 counts of wire fraud, 12 counts of