Faruk Fatih Özer, CEO of defunct Turkish crypto exchange Thodex who is accused of a rug pull, was arrested in Albania; Thodex’s losses may be as high as $2.52B (Adam Morgan McCarthy/The Block)

Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:
Russian native and likely proprietor of the RSOCKS botnet was arrested in Bulgaria at the request of the US; he requested and was granted extradition to the US  —  A 36-year-old Russian man recently identified by KrebsOnSecurity as the likely proprietor of the massive RSOCKS botnet …

Jasper Ward / Reuters:
Source: Sam Bankman-Fried plans to reverse his decision to contest extradition to the US; legal experts say any trial is likely more than a year away  —  Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is expected to appear in court in the Bahamas on Monday to reverse his decision to contest extradition …

Vishal Chawla / The Block:
Decentralized crypto exchange Serum, backed heavily by FTX, says it is “defunct” and points users to a community-led fork  —  – Solana-based exchange protocol Serum stated on Twitter it was now “defunct.”  — It pointed that it was now replaced by a community fork called OpenBook.

Kari McMahon / The Block:
BitMEX CEO Alexander Höptner steps down as CEO of the crypto exchange with immediate effect, replaced by CFO Stephan Lutz; Höptner joined BitMEX in 2021  —  – Alexander Höptner is departing from his role as CEO of crypto exchange BitMex with immediate effect.

Adam Morgan McCarthy / The Block:
Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital agrees to buy high-security custodian GK8 from bankrupt crypto lender Celsius; Celsius acquired GK8 for $115M in late 2021  —  – Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital agreed to buy GK8 from Celsius.  — GK8 was originally acquired by Celsius for $115 million in late 2021.

Bloomberg:
Turkey passes a “disinformation” law ahead of its 2023 elections, mandating jail time for sharing online content deemed “false information” by authorities  —  Turkey criminalized the spread of what authorities describe as false information on digital platforms …