Social War Room Lounge Thread #325: PotWR Edition

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Seems like a few doesn't it?
Hegseth, Tulsi, Duffy and now Pirro.
God help us!
AA1zy9fK.img

funny, weird little guy though.
 

Trump cabinet member’s links to El Salvador crypto firm under scrutiny​

Commerce chief Howard Lutnick’s firm backed controversial crypto giant Tether as Bukele ties deepened

Trump administration’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, and his family have had extensive business interests linked to El Salvador, whose authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has grown close to the White House and who has courted controversy by imprisoning people deported from the US in an immigration crackdown.

El Salvador also plays host to a booming cryptocurrency and new media industry, which has numerous ties to Donald Trump allies who are seeking to make money from various ventures which have sometimes drawn the attention of authorities or ethics watchdogs.

Securities and Exchange Commission and Office of Government Ethics (OGE) filings, along with public records in the US and El Salvador, indicate that Cantor Fitzgerald, the firm Lutnick headed until weeks ago before handing off to a management team including two of his sons, holds an effective 5% stake in the cryptocurrency firm Tether, has negotiated several investments on behalf of the highly profitable company, and is custodian of the US treasury holdings from which those profits arise.

The Guardian contacted the commerce department’s public affairs office seeking comment from Lutnick on this reporting and received no response.

One of Cantor’s investments was a $775m purchase of shares in Rumble, a Trump-aligned video platform, in a deal that closed in February. Just ahead of that deal closing, Rumble inked another deal to provide cloud services to El Salvador’s government, with Bukele’s regime saying the arrangement rested on shared values of “freedom, innovation and prosperity”.

As well as facilitating the buy – which allowed Rumble insiders to cash out with nine- and 10-figure windfalls – Cantor has been a longterm investor in Rumble since it sponsored the special purpose acquisition company (Spac) that took the platform public.

Tether relocated to El Salvador in January, where the regime allows crypto firms to operate tax- and regulation-free – and has taken advantage of further tax breaks to accumulate real estate in downtown San Salvador alongside transplanted US crypto influencers and members of Bukele’s family.

New York Times reporting this week revealed some of the relationships previously scandal-plagued for Tether have become more palatable in Washington during the Trump administration, but not the extent of the company’s ties to El Salvador.

Cantor and Lutnick’s El Salvador deals raise further questions about the Trump administration’s deepening involvement with Bukele’s authoritarian regime, which has imprisoned 2% of its population during a two-year “state of exception”, which has consolidated Bukele’s power during a harsh crackdown on criminal gangs.


They also raise questions about the direction of cryptocurrency regulations after Tether’s founder, Giancarlo Devasini, reportedly told associates in November that Lutnick would “use his political clout” to lift the regulatory scrutiny that has plagued the troubled firm for almost a decade.

Tether​

Tether – which reportedly mints the world’s most traded cryptocurrency – has attracted controversy since it was founded in 2014 alongside sister company Bitfinex, a cryptocurrency exchange by Devasini, an Italian former cosmetic surgeon who has relocated to El Salvador.

Increasingly, it also attracted hostile attention from US regulators. As recently as October, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Manhattan US attorney’s office was investigating Tether for its use in sanctions busting, money laundering, and “to fund illegal activities such as the drug trade, terrorism and hacking”.

That was the 19th time that Tether had attracted US government action, according to reporting at Protos, a cryptocurrency watchdog outlet. Many previous investigations and prosecutions alleged a fundamental fraud at the heart of Tether’s business.

The main product, USDT, is a stablecoin, a cryptocurrency whose value is exactly equivalent to that of the US dollar.

As the name implies, stablecoins are intended to offer a stable reservoir of value amid the volatility of crypto markets, allowing investors to trade, invest and transfer funds in dollar-equivalent values.

Its dollar equivalence is purportedly secured by an amount of US dollars, or easily converted equivalent assets, so that any holder can convert their USDT into dollars at any time. In theory, the company derives its profits from interest on the holdings that back its cryptocurrency.

But cryptocurrency traders, critics, government agencies and law enforcement have persistently questioned whether Tether holds reserves equivalent to the USDTs it has issued.

In 2021, Tether and Bitfinex agreed to jointly settle a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) suit with a payment of $42.5m, with $41m of that coming from Tether.

In their statement on the fines, CFTC said: “From at least June 1, 2016 to February 25, 2019, Tether misrepresented to customers and the market that Tether maintained sufficient U.S. dollar reserves to back every USDT in circulation.”

Instead, the statement said: Tether had “relied upon unregulated entities and certain third-parties to hold funds comprising the reserves; co-mingled reserve funds with Bitfinex’s operational and customer funds; and held reserves in non-fiat financial products”.

The same year, they had paid $18.5m to the New York attorney general’s office to settle a suit that foreshadowed the circumstances surrounding the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX. The attorney general’s office alleged that Tether had commingled client and corporate funds to cover up an $850m shortfall in their reserves.

As part of the settlement, Tether and Bitfinex were not required to admit wrongdoing.

In January, Protos reported in summary that the company had “lied repeatedly about the quality and quantity of its backing”.

The company has also resisted compliance with regulations designed to ensure that stablecoins including USDT have sufficient backing.

Tether is not currently listed on European exchanges because of the company’s refusal to comply with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (Mica) framework, effective from 1 January. It requires stable issuers operating in Europe to obtain authorization as an electronic money institution, and to hold at least 60% of their reserve assets in European banks.

Other allegations have probed Tether’s knowledge and involvement in the use of the token in illicit activities like sanctions busting and trafficking.

Ricardo Valencia, an assistant professor at California State University, Fullerton, and a former staffer at the Salvadorian US embassy under a previous administration, said that the growing relationship between Tether and the Bukele regime was unsurprising.

While the Trump regime was exploiting the “crypto gulag horror movie” of Cecot, a destination of summarily deported immigrants under Trump, both the US administration and Tether were exploiting the fact that “you can pay the Salvadoran government to do shady deals for a fee,” Valencia said.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/14/lutnick-el-salvador-crypto-immigration
 
yea, c'mon.
dude is irreverent and funny sometimes.
sure, he has a punchable face but who cares.
the exchanges he has on his show with a host of comics is sometimes
hilarious...
unless you're a member of the HATE minority that is.
then NOTHING is funny!
images

The world is in PERIL!
 
LeonardoBjj said:

Trump cabinet member’s links to El Salvador crypto firm under scrutiny​

Commerce chief Howard Lutnick’s firm backed controversial crypto giant Tether as Bukele ties deepened

Trump administration’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, and his family have had extensive business interests linked to El Salvador, whose authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has grown close to the White House and who has courted controversy by imprisoning people deported from the US in an immigration crackdown.

El Salvador also plays host to a booming cryptocurrency and new media industry, which has numerous ties to Donald Trump allies who are seeking to make money from various ventures which have sometimes drawn the attention of authorities or ethics watchdogs.

Securities and Exchange Commission and Office of Government Ethics (OGE) filings, along with public records in the US and El Salvador, indicate that Cantor Fitzgerald, the firm Lutnick headed until weeks ago before handing off to a management team including two of his sons, holds an effective 5% stake in the cryptocurrency firm Tether, has negotiated several investments on behalf of the highly profitable company, and is custodian of the US treasury holdings from which those profits arise.

The Guardian contacted the commerce department’s public affairs office seeking comment from Lutnick on this reporting and received no response.

One of Cantor’s investments was a $775m purchase of shares in Rumble, a Trump-aligned video platform, in a deal that closed in February. Just ahead of that deal closing, Rumble inked another deal to provide cloud services to El Salvador’s government, with Bukele’s regime saying the arrangement rested on shared values of “freedom, innovation and prosperity”.

As well as facilitating the buy – which allowed Rumble insiders to cash out with nine- and 10-figure windfalls – Cantor has been a longterm investor in Rumble since it sponsored the special purpose acquisition company (Spac) that took the platform public.

Tether relocated to El Salvador in January, where the regime allows crypto firms to operate tax- and regulation-free – and has taken advantage of further tax breaks to accumulate real estate in downtown San Salvador alongside transplanted US crypto influencers and members of Bukele’s family.

New York Times reporting this week revealed some of the relationships previously scandal-plagued for Tether have become more palatable in Washington during the Trump administration, but not the extent of the company’s ties to El Salvador.

Cantor and Lutnick’s El Salvador deals raise further questions about the Trump administration’s deepening involvement with Bukele’s authoritarian regime, which has imprisoned 2% of its population during a two-year “state of exception”, which has consolidated Bukele’s power during a harsh crackdown on criminal gangs.


They also raise questions about the direction of cryptocurrency regulations after Tether’s founder, Giancarlo Devasini, reportedly told associates in November that Lutnick would “use his political clout” to lift the regulatory scrutiny that has plagued the troubled firm for almost a decade.

Tether​

Tether – which reportedly mints the world’s most traded cryptocurrency – has attracted controversy since it was founded in 2014 alongside sister company Bitfinex, a cryptocurrency exchange by Devasini, an Italian former cosmetic surgeon who has relocated to El Salvador.

Increasingly, it also attracted hostile attention from US regulators. As recently as October, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Manhattan US attorney’s office was investigating Tether for its use in sanctions busting, money laundering, and “to fund illegal activities such as the drug trade, terrorism and hacking”.

That was the 19th time that Tether had attracted US government action, according to reporting at Protos, a cryptocurrency watchdog outlet. Many previous investigations and prosecutions alleged a fundamental fraud at the heart of Tether’s business.

The main product, USDT, is a stablecoin, a cryptocurrency whose value is exactly equivalent to that of the US dollar.

As the name implies, stablecoins are intended to offer a stable reservoir of value amid the volatility of crypto markets, allowing investors to trade, invest and transfer funds in dollar-equivalent values.

Its dollar equivalence is purportedly secured by an amount of US dollars, or easily converted equivalent assets, so that any holder can convert their USDT into dollars at any time. In theory, the company derives its profits from interest on the holdings that back its cryptocurrency.

But cryptocurrency traders, critics, government agencies and law enforcement have persistently questioned whether Tether holds reserves equivalent to the USDTs it has issued.

In 2021, Tether and Bitfinex agreed to jointly settle a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) suit with a payment of $42.5m, with $41m of that coming from Tether.

In their statement on the fines, CFTC said: “From at least June 1, 2016 to February 25, 2019, Tether misrepresented to customers and the market that Tether maintained sufficient U.S. dollar reserves to back every USDT in circulation.”

Instead, the statement said: Tether had “relied upon unregulated entities and certain third-parties to hold funds comprising the reserves; co-mingled reserve funds with Bitfinex’s operational and customer funds; and held reserves in non-fiat financial products”.

The same year, they had paid $18.5m to the New York attorney general’s office to settle a suit that foreshadowed the circumstances surrounding the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX. The attorney general’s office alleged that Tether had commingled client and corporate funds to cover up an $850m shortfall in their reserves.

As part of the settlement, Tether and Bitfinex were not required to admit wrongdoing.

In January, Protos reported in summary that the company had “lied repeatedly about the quality and quantity of its backing”.

The company has also resisted compliance with regulations designed to ensure that stablecoins including USDT have sufficient backing.

Tether is not currently listed on European exchanges because of the company’s refusal to comply with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (Mica) framework, effective from 1 January. It requires stable issuers operating in Europe to obtain authorization as an electronic money institution, and to hold at least 60% of their reserve assets in European banks.

Other allegations have probed Tether’s knowledge and involvement in the use of the token in illicit activities like sanctions busting and trafficking.

Ricardo Valencia, an assistant professor at California State University, Fullerton, and a former staffer at the Salvadorian US embassy under a previous administration, said that the growing relationship between Tether and the Bukele regime was unsurprising.

While the Trump regime was exploiting the “crypto gulag horror movie” of Cecot, a destination of summarily deported immigrants under Trump, both the US administration and Tether were exploiting the fact that “you can pay the Salvadoran government to do shady deals for a fee,” Valencia said.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/14/lutnick-el-salvador-crypto-immigration
Click to expand...
Dude, seriously?
why does AI have to be so long winded.
smarten up, amigo.
 
lol ok.
it's better than watching rachel madcow at least.
 
The Diplomat said:
Sure, but enough about Jesse Waters.
Click to expand...
Meh. He's a run of the mill hack smug asshole, but not an actual "comedian". Gutfeld is actually a comedian. It's his profession. Dude failed upwards. Not as much as that Tyrus guy, who somehow turned a failed pro-wrestling career into being a very successful political pundit on FOX, but he's up there.
 
HereticBD said:
Meh. He's a run of the mill hack smug asshole, but not an actual "comedian". Gutfeld is actually a comedian. It's his profession. Dude failed upwards. Not as much as that Tyrus guy, who somehow turned a failed pro-wrestling career into being a very successful political pundit on FOX, but he's up there.
Click to expand...
Can we all agree Steven Crowder is worse than all of them?
 
HereticBD said:
Meh. He's a run of the mill hack smug asshole, but not an actual "comedian". Gutfeld is actually a comedian. It's his profession. Dude failed upwards. Not as much as that Tyrus guy, who somehow turned a failed pro-wrestling career into being a very successful political pundit on FOX, but he's up there.
Click to expand...
Jesse Waters is the most punchable political news person I can think of not named Alex Jones' asshole, which we all know is named Joe Rogan.

And no, Gutfield isn't a "comedian." He doesn't do stand up, and if he does it fails. He's not in the podcast game. He's not relevant. The Legion of Skanks would take him if he had anything to say, but he doesn't.

But yeah, it's extremely annoying that a walking ragebait link is prime time with fans. The intelligence of the populace astounds me.
 
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