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A group of media companies is set to argue on Friday to the U.S. judge overseeing the FTX bankruptcy that they should be allowed to request that the collapsed crypto exchange make public the names of its customers. In seeking to intervene in the case, the New York Times, Dow Jones, Bloomberg and the Financial Times said bankruptcy law demands transparency. Letting customer names remain secret could turn bankruptcy proceedings into a “farce” if creditors start fighting anonymously over how much money they should get, the media companies wrote in a Delaware bankruptcy court filing. FTX has argued the usual U.S. bankruptcy practice of disclosing names, addresses and e-mail addresses of creditors, which includes customers, could expose them to scams and could violate privacy laws for those who live in Europe. The company has also said that disclosing identities of as many as 1 million customers would make it easier for a competitor to poach them, undermining the value of FTX’s platform w...

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried leaves the courthouse in New York, on Dec. 22. Yuki IWAMURA/The Associated Press Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal case over the collapse of his FTX cryptocurrency exchange has been reassigned to a judge recently known for handling defamation lawsuits against former U.S. President Donald Trump and a sexual abuse lawsuit against Prince Andrew. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan replaces his colleague Ronnie Abrams, who recused herself on Friday after learning that the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell, where her husband is a partner, advised FTX in 2021. Known for his no-nonsense demeanor in the courtroom, Kaplan, a judge since 1994, oversees two civil lawsuits by former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll accusing Trump of defaming her by denying he raped her in a Manhattan department store dressing room 27 years ago. Trump has sought the dismissal of both lawsuits, including a battery claim. Kaplan also recently oversaw Virginia Giuffre’s civil lawsuit ac...

Federal prosecutors are investigating an alleged cybercrime that drained more than $370-million from crypto exchange FTX hours after it filed for bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday citing a person familiar with the case. The criminal probe into the stolen assets, launched by the Department of Justice, is separate from the fraud case against FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, the report added. A spokesperson for the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office said he could not confirm or comment on the issue, while DoJ and FTX did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. FTX filed for U.S. bankruptcy last month and Bankman-Fried stepped down as chief executive, after traders pulled billions from the platform in three days and rival exchange Binance abandoned a rescue deal. The U.S. Department of Justice accused Bankman-Fried of causing billions of dollars of losses related to FTX, which a U.S. prosecutor called a “fraud of epic proportions.” Bankman-Fried founded FTX ...

Alphabet Inc’s Google GOOGL-Q said on Wednesday it believes the complaint from the U.S. Department of Justice accusing the company of abusing its dominance in digital advertising is “without merit.” The company also added it will “defend itself vigorously.” The government on Tuesday said Google should be forced to sell its ad manager suite, tackling a business that generated about 12% of Google’s revenue in 2021 while also playing a vital role in the search engine and cloud company’s overall sales. Google, which depends on its advertising business for about 80% of its revenue, said the government was “doubling down on a flawed argument that would slow innovation, raise advertising fees and make it harder for thousands of small businesses and publishers to grow.” The federal government has said its Big Tech investigations and lawsuits are aimed at levelling the playing field for smaller rivals who are up against a group of powerful companies that include Amazon.com AMZN-Q, Facebook-o...

A group of media companies is set to argue on Friday to the U.S. judge overseeing the FTX bankruptcy that they should be allowed to request that the collapsed crypto exchange make public the names of its customers. In seeking to intervene in the case, the New York Times, Dow Jones, Bloomberg and the Financial Times said bankruptcy law demands transparency. Letting customer names remain secret could turn bankruptcy proceedings into a “farce” if creditors start fighting anonymously over how much money they should get, the media companies wrote in a Delaware bankruptcy court filing. FTX has argued the usual U.S. bankruptcy practice of disclosing names, addresses and e-mail addresses of creditors, which includes customers, could expose them to scams and could violate privacy laws for those who live in Europe. The company has also said that disclosing identities of as many as 1 million customers would make it easier for a competitor to poach them, undermining the value of FTX’s platform w...