Crypto Torture

The man suspected of kidnapping and torturing an Italian man over a crypto dispute suffered his own indignity when he was arrested -- his bathrobe came undone.

Photographer and street vendor Ciaran Tully was minding his own business Friday when John Woeltz was removed from his fancy NYC apartment wearing only a robe.

As he was escorted down the stairs, Tully says his robe came undone, so cops spared him the embarrassment and bundled him back up.

Logan Paul is taking legal action against popular YouTuber Coffeezilla ... claiming the internet investigator is purposely spreading lies to tarnish his reputation.

The docs were filed on Thursday ... with the WWE Superstar suing Coffeezilla -- real name Stephen Findeisen -- and his production company for defamation over his deep dive into Paul's failed CryptoZoo project.

In case you haven't been following along, Coffeezilla has released numerous videos addressing the fallout of the blockchain game for the past two years, -- calling the whole thing a "scam" -- pointing the finger at Paul and claiming he purposely duped his fans into shelling out their cold, hard cash so he could pocket it.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is going away for a long time ... the judge hit him with a 25-year sentence for scamming customers and investors in his federal cryptocurrency fraud case.

Judge Lewis Kaplan handed down the hefty sentence Thursday in Manhattan, and although he didn't order restitution -- due to the large number of victims impacted by SBF's biz -- the judge did order a forfeiture of more than $11 billion.

Explaining the lengthy sentence and fine, Judge Kaplan said ... "This man will be in a position to do something very bad in the future, and it’s not a trivial risk.”

Logan Paul says the coverage of his failed CryptoZoo project led to the darkest period of his life ... revealing he at one point contemplated taking his own life amid the backlash.

The YouTuber, boxer and WWE Superstar opened up on his mental struggles in Graham Bensinger's documentary, "5 Months with Logan Paul" ... detailing the breakdown he had while in Denmark with his fiancée, Nina Agdal, and her family in 2022.

Logan said he missed out on the chance to meet Nina's father due to his emotional state ... admitting he was in "a pretty dark spot" after YouTuber Coffeezilla released a video series investigating his NFT game and accusing it of being a scam.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is not going to the moon, instead he appears headed for prison ... he's been found guilty on all counts against him in his federal cryptocurrency fraud case.

Federal law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... a jury in New York City convicted the disgraced "Crypto King" on all seven counts of fraud, money laundering and conspiracy ... the latest development in one of the largest financial fraud cases in U.S. history.

The jury verdict came back Thursday ... SBF was found guilty on two counts of wire fraud conspiracy, two counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering ... each carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence.

Sam was also convicted on one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit commodities fraud ... each carries a maximum 5-year prison sentence.

All told, SBF is facing up to 110 years behind bars.

Our sources say after the guilty verdict came down, Sam appeared despondent and sort of upset ... starting to tear up.

Following the weeks-long trial, all 12 jurors were in agreement on convicting SBF on each of the 7 charges.

As we reported ... Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas back on Dec. 12 before federal prosecutors in New York hit him with a slew of charges.

SBF was accused of taking billions of dollars in FTX customer deposits and using the money to fund investments, make political donations and buy luxury real estate.

FTX was once one of the world's biggest crypto exchanges, being valued at $30 billion before ultimately becoming insolvent and filing for bankruptcy.

Ben McKenzie says celebrities should not be selling digital currencies ... instead, he says they should stick to the usual stuff, like overpriced water, so folks won't go belly up.

The former "O.C." star joined us on "TMZ Live" Thursday and we asked him about the huge ad blitz from celebs who were pushing crypto during the Super Bowl and beyond ... only for the market to crash.

Ben's since written a book about the rise and fall of crypto, "Easy Money," and he's got some strong opinions ... like how celebrities should never be giving financial advice.

Ben thinks all the folks featured in those Super Bowl ads for crypto ... like Tom Brady, Lindsay Lohan, and Larry David, just to name a few ... would be better served selling car insurance, soap and H2O.

For Ben, the big difference here is the unregulated status of cryptocurrency ... plus the fact celebs are not licensed financial advisors ... and he feels Hollywood contributed to what he sees as the largest Ponzi scheme in history.

Tons of folks lost money when the crypto boom went bust and lots of folks got sued ... and Ben says fraudsters used the lure of celebrities to reel in marks.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is cracking down on Crypto companies ... and some big-name celebs -- including Jake Paul, Lindsay Lohan and Soulja Boy -- who praised the currency companies while getting paid without disclosing it ... and they've agreed to cough up some dough to make it all go away.

Jake and Lindsay are among the celebs named in the SEC's filings Wednesday ... they're charged with illegally touting Tronix and BitTorrent. Others charged include Lil Yachty, Ne-Yo, Austin Mahone, Kendra Lust and Akon.

The SEC says these celebs failed to disclose they were getting paid for promoting these companies.

Almost all of the celebs agreed to pay a total of $400K to settle the charges.

Paul Pierce's bank account is about to take a huge hit ... the ex-NBA star has agreed to pay $1.4 MILLION after authorities accused him of improperly promoting crypto on his social media page.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the settlement on Friday ... after it charged the former Celtics forward over the way he promoted and spoke about EMAX tokens on his Twitter account.

According to the SEC, Pierce touted the EthereumMax products "without disclosing the payment he received for the promotion." It also said Peirce made "false and misleading promotional statements" about the product as well.

Specifically, the SEC said Pierce was paid more than $244K to promote the items ... while claiming he tweeted an image of a bank account with large figures, despite his account having a significantly lower total.

The SEC said Pierce ultimately agreed to fork over $1.409 million "in penalties, disgorgement and interest" to settle the charges.

"This case is yet another reminder to celebrities: The law requires you to disclose to the public from whom and how much you are getting paid to promote investment in securities, and you can’t lie to investors when you tout a security," SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a statement.

"When celebrities endorse investment opportunities, including crypto asset securities, investors should be careful to research if the investments are right for them, and they should know why celebrities are making those endorsements."