BREAKING: Federal lawmakers demand an #SEC probe into whether Elon Musk committed securities fraud after WIRED stories shed doubt on his claims about the health and wellbeing of #Neuralink's animal test subjects.
Social media platform is like phantom stocks. They appear substantial, but their value is elusive.
How Phantom Stock Works:
Phantom shares mimic real stock value.
Pump & Dump Scheme: A fraudulent practice where individuals artificially inflate the price of a stock (or in this case, social media company) to attract unsuspecting or criminal/dark money investors who “pump” stock prices, the inflated worth is illusory.
Money Laundering: Trump concealing the origins of illicitly obtained funds by passing them through a complex sequence of banking transfers or commercial transactions.
Truth Social is a failed social media platform, that will merge with a publicly traded SHELL company. Financial Performance: Since its 2021 launch, Truth Social generated sales of less than $5 million. However, Trump’s supporters rallied to boost shares in the shell company, Digital World Acquisition Corp. Its a money laundering scheme.
Truth Social/ DJT’ stock has all the earmarks of a pump and dump scheme and a stock swindle where the only people who will benefit in the long run will be insiders. Ie: Donald Trump and his cronies.
The financials of Truth Social are horrible. It is losing $5 million plus each quarter on revenue of less than $1 million a quarter.Truth Social is essentially a MAGA message board.
So why are people driving the stock price up? To be able to funnel dark and foreign money to Trump to use in his campaign without having to disclose the source of the investors. Campaign contributions have to be disclosed to the #FEC, but that can be avoided by buying Truth Social stock.
The stock is pumped up and Trump cashes in his shares. The SEC should take a very close look at this Trump pump and dump scheme.
"Let us be very clear: according to industry experts, any cosigner for this loan would need to have a net worth of between $75 and $100 billion.
Not $75 and $100 million. $75 and $100 billion.
There are five or six Americans who meet that standard. Donald Trump himself has a negative net worth.
So the idea that any amount of money Trump gets from Truth Social would be enough to both purchase the bond and put up sufficient collateral for it is literal nonsense. A fantasy.
WHAT corrupt businessperson—and will it be a foreign national?—buys $3 billion of worthless meme stock from Trump as part of an obvious fire sale. And how much of a discount does the buyer seek?
If Trump were willing to accept $500 million for meme stock allegedly worth $3 billion, he could get away with it, I’m sure. But he will insist on full face value by stock price.
But if some dodgy figure pays him billions for obviously worthless paper assets"
Trump stands to gain billions… from the merger between TrumpMedia & Tech & the blank-check co [#SPAC] #DWAC, which took the parent company of #TruthSocial public.
I'm seeing a lot of posts about the SEC's decision to charge both SolarWinds and their current CISO, (who was Vice President of Security and Architecture at the time) with fraud and internal control failures relating to allegedly known cyber security risks and vulnerabilities, and I'd highly recommend people read the full complaint from the SEC.
This wasn't just a case of a senior security professional being ignored by leadership during the period, this appears to be a considered purposeful approach from the organisation and the individual to downplay or ignore known issues in both their regulatory filings (13 of them during the relevant period) and repeated blog posts, press releases and podcasts where both the company and the CISO made repeated statements including how the Company “places a premium on the security of its products and makes sure everything is backed by sound security processes, procedures, and standards.” all the while knowing about the most fundamental of security failings including default passwords and the ability for un-managed devices to connect to the VPN.
SolarWinds also fell down in their risk management approach, using Risk Acceptance Forms to avoid fixing issues, with one form asking to “accept[] the risk of legacy issues in the Orion Platform” because “[t]he volume of security issues being identified over the last month have outstripped the capacity of Engineering teams to resolve.”
On top of this, arguably worse was to come when after multiple customers had been breached and the evidence was strongly suggesting one of their products was involved an employee falsely informed a firm they hadn't seen any previous activity even whilst messaging a colleague “Well I just lied.”
Finally, even when SolarWinds did report on the breach through their K-8 filing (required when there has been a major event that shareholders should know about) they claimed it was still being investigated “whether a vulnerability in the Orion monitoring products was exploited as a point of any infiltration of any customer systems.” when they knew the vulnerability had been exploited on at least three previous occasions.
A lot of focus will rightly be on the statements made within the regulatory filings, but I think it also brings into focus the typically bland statements organisations make on their websites about "how seriously they take security". The SEC's contention is that as the period in question (October 2018 to January 2021) coincided with the IPO of the firm and their return to being a listed company, it was a time where potential investors turned to the public statements from the firm to help determine whether they invest or not.
If your public facing statements don't match up to the reality you know about, this case may demonstrate that you could be on the hook for it. #SEC#SolarWinds#Cybersecurity
BREAKING - First SEC Section 1.05 Cybersecurity Incident Disclosure. VF Corporation disclosed a ransomware attack this morning (2023-12-18 06:37:32 EST) that occurred on Dec 15. The attackers "stole data from the Company, including personal data". VF Brands "ability to fulfill orders is currently impacted" however stores operated globally (e.g. JanSport, a VF Company , Eastpak, a VF company Timberland, a VF Company and The North Face, a VF Company) are open, and consumers can purchase available merchandise.
"As of the date of this filing, the incident has had and is reasonably likely to continue to have a material impact on the Company’s business operations until recovery efforts are completed. The Company has not yet determined whether the incident is reasonably likely to materially impact the Company’s financial condition or results of operations."
📨 Latest issue of my curated #cybersecurity and #infosec list of resources for week #46/2023 is out! It includes the following and much more:
➝ 🔓 🇯🇵 #Toyota confirms breach after Medusa #ransomware threatens to leak data
➝ 🇺🇸 😂 Ransomware gang files #SEC complaint over victim’s undisclosed #breach
➝ 🔓 🪶 Attackers claim Plume Design, Inc data breach
➝ 🇺🇸 💰 #ICBC paid ransom after hack that disrupted markets, #cybercriminals say
➝ 🔓 #Dragos Says No Evidence of Breach After Ransomware Gang Claims Hack via Third Party
➝ 🔓 ✈️ Hackers swipe Booking.com, damage from attack is global
➝ 🇷🇺 🇺🇦 Russian #CyberEspionage Group Deploys #LitterDrifter USB #Worm in Targeted Attacks
➝ 🇮🇱 🇺🇸 Israeli Man Who Made $5M From Hacking Scheme Sentenced to Prison in US
➝ 🇫🇮 ⚖️ Alleged Extortioner of Psychotherapy Patients Faces Trial
➝ 🇺🇸 💸 #LockBit ransomware exploits #CitrixBleed in attacks, 10K servers exposed
➝ 🇺🇸 ⚖️ #IPStorm botnet with 23,000 proxies for malicious traffic dismantled
➝ 👶🏻 🧨 Teens with “digital bazookas” are winning the ransomware war, researcher laments
➝ 💸 #Ethereum feature abused to steal $60 million from 99K victims
➝ 🇩🇰 🇷🇺 #Denmark Hit With Largest #Cyberattack on Record
➝ 🇨🇳 🇰🇭 Chinese Hackers Launch Covert #Espionage Attacks on 24 Cambodian Organizations
➝ 🇲🇾 Major Phishing-as-a-Service Syndicate '#BulletProofLink' Dismantled by Malaysian Authorities
➝ 🇪🇺 🥳 EU Parliament committee rejects mass scanning of private and encrypted communications
➝ 🩹 #ICS Patch Tuesday: 90 Vulnerabilities Addressed by Siemens and Schneider Electric
➝ 🦠 🐍 27 Malicious #PyPI Packages with Thousands of Downloads Found Targeting IT Experts
🇻🇳 🇮🇳 Vietnamese Hackers Using New #Delphi-Powered #Malware to Target Indian Marketers
➝ 🔐 #Google Adds #Passkey Support to New Titan Security Key
➝ 🐛 Zero-Day Flaw in #Zimbra Email Software Exploited by Four Hacker Groups
➝ 🩹 #SAP Patches Critical Vulnerability in Business One Product
➝ 🐛 New #Reptar CPU flaw impacts Intel desktop and server systems
➝ 🐛 New #CacheWarp AMD #CPU attack lets hackers gain root in Linux VMs
📚 This week's recommended reading is: "Tribe of Hackers: Cybersecurity Advice from the Best Hackers in the World" by @marcusjcarey and Jennifer Jin
Subscribe to the #infosecMASHUP newsletter to have it piping hot in your inbox every week-end ⬇️
SEC Charges New York Firm Concord Management and Owner Michael Matlin with Acting as Unregistered Investment Advisers to Billionaire Former Russian Official (Roman Abramovich)
Firm and Owner’s failures to register prevented oversight of more than $7 billion in assets
The #SEC said it had not yet granted approval of spot-#Bitcoin ETFs, despite a post on #X/#Twitter that appeared from the regulator’s official account —Bloomberg
"A judge has ordered Elon Musk to testify as part of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s investigation into his $44 billion purchase of Twitter, now called X, in 2022"
NEWS: The adjudicated Fraud has posted a $175 million bond in the New York civil fraud case, preventing seizure of his assets while the case is on appeal.
Originally due March 25.
Trump is liable for $454 million, most of the fraud judgment, but the amount he owed had been growing by more than $111,000 daily due to added interest.
Don Hankey, the Insurance Carrier CEO Apparently Behind the $175 Million Trump Bond, Is a Trump Mega-Donor Who Has Already Been Written Up As Connected to Shady Trump-Adjacent Financial Operation
The Totally Dodgy Backstory of the Bank that Just Refinanced Trump Tower
How Axos — a financial firm tied to GOP politics and high-profile lawsuits — became the Trumps' lender of last resort.
Elon was in WPB. Third visit in last several weeks.
Donald found guilty engaged in a decade of business fraud by falsely inflating the former president's net worth to get better loans and business deals.
"The frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience," Engoron wrote.
-Don Hankey is the Chairman of Knight Insurance. He specializes in extending loans to people with bad credit.
-Amit Shah (President)
-John Rygh (General Counsel)
-Jackie Leung (Chief Financial Officer)
Hankey's spouse, Debbi Bowles, donated to Trump's 2020 campaign.
Axos Bank refinanced Trump Tower in 2022.
"#SEC documents show Hankey is the largest non-institutional investor in Axos; Hankey made his fortune with subprime auto loans, charging exorbitant interest to financially strapped customers who need a car."
#TESLA NEWS: New York City Comptroller Brad Lander Files Letter to #TSLA Shareholders with #SEC: The Board's Failure to Curtail the CEO Jeopardizes Tesla’s Brand, so "we urge you to vote against the reelection of Kimbal Musk and James Murdoch and against the ratification of the #Musk 2018 Pay Package."
James Murdoch is a #climatedenial promoter. He is a billionaire's buddy on a Board that is totally captive to Musk's fantasies. That's no way to make money!
"Breaking news: The US Securities and Exchange Commission has shut down the auditor of Donald Trump’s social media company, accusing it of 'massive fraud' "
The SPAC, Special Purpose Acquisition Company, is a dormant financial tool- a shell company, existing only on paper.
DWAC was created w the help of ARC Capital, a China Shanghai-based firm specializing in listing Chinese companies on American stock markets that has been a target of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigations for misrepresenting shell corporations. Aka:Fraud.
Jeff Yass is the biggest institutional shareholder of SPAC DWAC that merged w Lies Social. Susquehanna International Group LLP, owner is the same GOP megadonor Jeff Yass.
The deal is to give fraudster, criminal defendant a massive financial lifeline.
Yass also co-owns Chinese company ByteDance, and is openly attempting to game the 2024 presidential election for himself, and has been talking with Trump a lot.
In conclusion, Yass' China based SPAC merged with a worthless, debt ridden maga message board company simply as a way for donors to funnel money to Donald without scrutiny.
"The company claims it does not track key indicators that social media platforms traditionally use to monitor their performance."
"Trump Media says it believes tracking those stats “might not align with the best interests” of the company or its stockholders, according to its most recent filing with the SEC."
How can a public company possibly be allowed to say "we'd share this common metric but that would give investors information that would hurt our stock price". If the SEC doesn't padlock the doors of this giant scam right now it will have utterly destroyed its credibility. Guys, Trump's a clown. An evil clown, but still a clown.