Jason Mikula’s Post

Evolve Bank & Trust is trying to re-write its own history of its hacking by Russian ransomware group LockBit. The bank initially made a statement on 6/26 (left), saying it was "currently investigating a cybersecurity incident." But that statement has been scrubbed off the same page as of today (right), and Evolve now says it knew about the hack as of "late May" -- a full month earlier:

Excited for next week when I'll be taking part in the Fraud Fighters Virtual Summit, by Unit21: I'll be chatting all things Fintech with Jason Henrichs and Frank Rotman — Trust me, you won't want to miss this one! Join me here: https://hubs.li/Q02zMq-k0 #fraudfightersvirtualsummit

BIG NEWS: I wrote a book (with foreword by none other than Simon Taylor.) Yes, it's on a banking-as-a-service: It doesn't officially publish til later this year, but you can PRE-ORDER NOW, and loyal readers/listeners/followers can get 20% off by buying directly through the publisher, Kogan Page Publishing, and using promo code "BaaSIsland" -- link in the comments below👇 Really excited to finally reveal what I've been working on for the last ~6 months, and many thanks to everyone in my network, especially my podcasting partner-in-crime Alex Johnson (and my family!) who have been so supportive during this time.

Sen. Sherrod Brown asked Fed Chair Jerome Powell about the Synapse bankruptcy at today's hearing, including the potential shortfall of as much as $95 million in user funds: Asked what the Fed, which oversees Evolve Bank & Trust, is doing, Powell said, "We do supervise the bank. We don't supervise Synapse, let alone the fintechs that feed in to Synapse. We're strongly encouraging Evolve to do whatever it can to help make money available to those depositors. We also, as you may know, did an enforcement action - before this all happened - we inspected Evolve and hit them with an enforcement action."

Proud to be quoted in today's The New York Times piece on the Synapse bankruptcy and its impact on users of fintechs like Yotta, Juno & Yieldstreet. Link in the comments below.

Fintech/banking policy folks should definitely check out this event - bummed I can't make it this year:

SoLo Funds, backed by tennis legend Serena Williams, hit with 6th regulatory action & Evolve Bank & Trust data breach: The company, an unlicensed P2P payday lender backed by VCs that include Techstars, ACME Capital, and Serena Williams' Serena Ventures, as well as belonging to Visa's FastTrack program, has had a rough go of it lately. A botched tech transition from working with Synapse and Evolve Bank to Treasury Prime and Bangor Savings Bank left users unable to access their accounts or borrow funds for weeks. The CFPB filed a suit against the company, alleging it deceives borrowers with its "tip" and "donation"-based business model and through the use of "dark patterns." Now, SoLo Funds has been hit with what is at least its SIXTH regulatory action, settling with the Pennsylvania attorney general over its alleged illegal "tip and donation" model. The company will pay restitution, a civil penalty, investigation costs, and will cease attempting to collect on unpaid principal, "tips," "donations," and fees for loans in the state, totaling over $530,000. SoLo Funds also had data on its users compromised in the recent Russia-linked hack of Evolve Bank & Trust, though the company does not appear to have notified its users of the situation yet. More in this in the most recent Fintech Business Weekly through the link in the comments below.

Filings in the Synapse bankruptcy case: ex-Synapse employees, presumably including ex-CEO Sankaet Pathak, continued to have access to key systems, including MongoDB, until at least June 20th, while the Chapter 11 trustee, former FDIC Chair Jelena McWilliams, trustee didn’t gain access until that time. It’s unclear why former Synapse officers’ and employees’ access wasn’t immediately terminated when McWilliams was appointed on May 24th, and it is also unknown if any former officers or employees accessed or made changes to key systems, including MongoDB, in the time between when the Trustee was appointed and when she gained access to said accounts. More in this in new Fintech Business Weekly through the link in the comments below.