Oscar-winning US actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa have been found dead at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In a career that spanned more than six decades, he received two Academy Awards, two Baftas, four Golden Globes and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

A statement from the Santa Fe County Sheriff in New Mexico said: “We can confirm that both Gene Hackman and his wife were found deceased Wednesday afternoon at their residence on Sunset Trail.

“This is an active investigation – however, at this time we do not believe that foul play was a factor.”

[BBC]

Hamas has handed over what it says are the bodies of four Israeli hostages from Gaza.

Israel is testing DNA samples to confirm they are the remains of Shlomo Mansour, 86, Ohad Yahalomi, 50, Tsachi Idan, 50, and Itzik Elgarat, 69, all of whom were taken by Hamas in the 7 October 2023 attacks.

Israel is due to release more than 600 Palestinian prisoners once the remains are identified.

It will be the final exchange of the first phase of the ceasefire deal, which is due to end on Saturday.

[BBC]

A company which fell victim to what’s thought to be the world’s biggest ever theft is seeking to recover some of its losses by crowdsourcing online bounty hunters.

Last week, hackers believed to be from North Korea’s notorious Lazarus Group stole $1.46 billion of cryptocurrency from ByBit, a crypto trading platform.

The criminals are trying to rapidly cash out the hoard through a complex online money laundering process.

ByBit is now offering cash rewards to anyone who spots and prevents them from cashing out.

“Join us on war against Lazarus” the company’s CEO Ben Zhou posted online with a link to a new website offering a bounty to anyone who can help.

Cryptocurrencies are stored in public wallets anyone can look up so it’s possible to follow the money as the criminals split it into smaller chunks and send it through various channels to obscure its origins.

The new website has a live leader board showing companies and individuals who have successfully located some of the coins.

The bounty scheme gives 5% of the sum identified to individuals who successfully persuade a company that has control of the funds to freeze the money.

It’s also awarding 5% to the companies that take action.

The website is already displaying millions of dollars in payments to successful crypto sleuths.

“We have assigned a team to dedicate to maintain and update this website, we will not stop until Lazarus or bad actors in the industry is eliminated,” Mr Zhou said.

Crypto investigation firm Elliptic described it as a “really positive innovation.”

“There are a lot of very talented blockchain investigators out there who will now be motivated to track down these stolen funds, and to help to seize them,” said Tom Robinson, from Elliptic.

However Louise Abbott, crypto fraud partner at Keystone Law, suggested the heist would still “negatively impact the perception of trust” in what she said was already a “volatile” industry.

“If such a hack can occur on this scale in the world’s second largest exchange, it can certainly happen again,” she said.

There are no authorities such as central banks or regulators involved in crypto transactions which means anyone who falls victim to criminal behaviour does not have an obvious body to turn to for help.

That’s left ByBit reliant on the goodwill of other crypto companies to act on their behalf. Not all have.

ByBit’s website is keeping track of crypto firms that don’t respond to requests for help.

One exchange called eXch is apparently refusing to cooperate.

According to researchers at crypto investigators Elliptic, eXch is a platform notable for allowing its users to swap crypto-assets anonymously.

In a blog post Elliptic alleges that “hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto-assets derived from criminal activity, including multiple thefts perpetrated by North Korea” have been successfully laundered through the service.

So far $75m from the ByBit hack has been tracked flowing through the website, according to analysis.

EXch has not responded to BBC requests for comment.

ByBit is promising to open up it’s new bounty website to other victims of the prolific North Korean hacking group.

The site has a logo of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s hair with a knife through it.

Crypto investigators around the world have attributed the hack to the group which has been blamed for around $6bn of crypto thefts in recent years.

Researchers say the stolen funds are used by the hermit state to skirt international sanctions and develop its military powers.

North Korea has never admitted to being responsible for the Lazarus Group.

[BBC]