Following a sweeping crackdown, U.S. federal prosecutors have seized, and investors may recover, approximately $15 billion in bitcoin from what authorities describe as one of the largest cryptocurrency investment frauds ever uncovered — a sprawling “pig butchering” operation built on forced labor and human trafficking. The cryptocurrency is already in U.S. government custody, and recovery...
Bitcoin’s 2025 price swings may not have been predicted, but they impacted market conduct in predictable ways. When asset prices decline, disputes over the allocation of losses often arise; conversely, during periods of rising asset prices, competition increases and the potential for risks associated with improper conduct also escalates. Add in a government’s retreat from regulation and...
When a lender falls, it’s tempting to believe it is an isolated failure. When a second lender fails, it’s time to look for broader patterns of stress in corners of the market. For subprime auto and broader consumer lending, PrimaLend’s chapter 11 bankruptcy, after months of missed interest payments and mounting creditor pressure, should be a catalyst for parties to re-evaluate how they conduct...
In a troubling development for the broader subprime auto and asset-backed securities markets, several auto loans tied to Tricolor Auto were found to contain duplicate vehicle identification numbers (VINs), suggesting that the same vehicles were pledged as collateral in more than one transaction. An obvious issue hidden in a blind spot that indicates failure of attention, rather than...
Subprime auto’s long, smooth ride through the pandemic, recession, and changes in administrations has come to a screeching halt with the chapter 7 bankruptcy of Tricolor on September 10, 2025. Whether the practices at Tricolor are an anomaly or an example of more widespread problems or irregularities at other lenders, the truth is out there – and it’s likely to be found. Weak markets, like the...
