Sam Bankman-Fried, 30, the founder and former CEO of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, was released on $250 million bail after appearing in federal court in Manhattan this afternoon. rice field. Under the terms of the package, he will be confined to his parents’ home in Palo Alto, California while awaiting trial. Bankman-Fried was indicted on eight counts of customer fraud, money laundering and campaign finance violations, but was not asked to file a petition while in court.
A grand jury indictment released last week revealed that Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF, “willfully” planned to defraud clients by transferring client funds to Alameda Research, a private crypto fund he controlled. accused of devising Additionally, according to the Justice Department, Bankman-Fried broke campaign finance laws by funneling political contributions through other people.
Customers started withdrawing money from the exchange last month after it was revealed that customer deposits on FTX had been mixed with Alameda. As a result, FTX went bankrupt on November 11th. Bankman-Fried stepped down as his CEO of the company on the same day. His fortune has gone from an estimated $16 billion to practically nothing.
Bankman-Fried is arrested In the Bahamas on December 12, at the request of US authorities. Last night he was flown to New York after agreeing to his extradition.
Also last night, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams announced Bankman-Fried’s two chief executives, FTX co-founder Gary Wang, 29, and former Alameda co-CEO Caroline Ellison, 28, pleaded guilty to federal criminal fraud charges, Wang and Ellison shared a mansion in the Bahamas with Bankman-Fried, and Ellison and Bankman-Fried were reportedly romantically involved.
In addition, the Securities and Exchange Commission, which oversees the derivatives market, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have filed civil fraud charges against Wang and Ellison. the SEC statement The two said they were involved in a “multi-year scheme to deceive FTX stock investors.”
According to the SEC ComplaintBankman-Fried tasked the company’s developers to write code that would allow Alameda to secretly withdraw money from FTX customers. Over the summer, Mr. Bankman-Fried knew the company was on the brink of bankruptcy, but he continued to withdraw cash from his customers and is said to have even loaned himself.
Bankman-Fried is also facing civil lawsuits from the SEC and CFTC, which barred him from being a director of the company and forced him to pay damages and additional fines to his customers. I’m trying
FTX UK customer Sunil Kavri, who said he lost $2.1 million, told BuzzFeed News he was happy things were going well. It was hard for me,” he said. “I’m actually pleasantly surprised at how quickly they all charged.” He said he hopes Wang and Ellison’s cooperation will help customers get their money back.
