On the Fundamental Group of Type II$_1$ Factors
  We present here a shorter version of the proof of a result from our paper ``On a class of type II$_1$ factors with Betti numbers invariants'', showing that the von Neumann factor associated with the group $\Bbb Z^2 \rtimes SL(2, \Bbb Z)$ has trivial fundamental group. 
Sorin Popa