FTX case, what fate faces Sam Bankman after his arrest?
- julio 23, 2022
As Justice Department officials embark on a thorough investigation into how FTX handles clients’ money and assets, they met this week with FTX’s court-appointed supervisors to discuss the material they aim to collect, those involved said. They are also investigating whether FTX broke the law by funnelling money to Alameda-research, the bankrupt investment firm founded by Bankman-Fried, a previously reported area of investigation.
Sam_Bankman-Fried, who is in the Bahamas and has not been charged with any crimes, has admitted to serious management errors at FTX but has steadfastly denied that he knowingly misused client funds. A Bankman-Fried spokesperson declined to comment on Friday.
The New York Times reported this week that federal prosecutors are also looking into whether Bankman-Fried participated in market manipulation by orchestrating the deals that led to the TerraUSD crash earlier this year.
Prosecutors for the Southern District of New York, including Assistant US Attorney Nicholas Ross, met for about two hours this week in a conference room in lower Manhattan with dozens of people investigating the collapse of FTX. Possible fees were not discussed at the organizational meeting. A spokesman for the southern region declined to comment.
The meeting included officials from that bureau and the Department of Justice in Washington, agents from the FBI, and a bankruptcy team led by John J. Ray III, who was named FTX CEO last month. The people said FTX attorneys from Sullivan and Cromwell, including former SEC enforcement director Steve Peiken and former Manhattan federal prosecutor Nicole Friedlander, were also in attendance.
Possible reasons for bankruptcy:
Bankman-Fried gave a series of media interviews last month describing accounting errors that obscured the extent of FTX’s ties to Alameda and the risks that resulted. On Friday, he said on Twitter that he is ready to testify at a December 13 hearing before the US House Financial Services Committee about the disintegration of his crypto empire.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been known to blur the lines between the personal and the professional, most famously by moving into a luxury apartment in the Bahamas with nine colleagues.
But as regulators and lawmakers target the disgraced crypto mogul, they’re broadening their scope beyond his group of “wildly inexperienced and rude individuals” in the words of FTX’s new CEO.
Did Sam's parents have a role in the bankruptcy of the company?
Sam’s parents play a major role in the case, as they are not mentioned by name or accused of wrongdoing. But their mere mention — on the same day they escorted their son to his first appearance in a Bahamas court since his arrest on Monday — indicates how far-reaching the government’s investigation into the cryptocurrency meltdown that has left nearly a million customers in limbo is likely to reach.
Bankman-Fried faces eight criminal charges, including conspiracy and wire fraud, for allegedly misappropriating billions of dollars in client funds to pay the expenses and debts of his hedge fund, Alameda Research.
The CFTC said that “Bankman-Fried, his parents, and employees of FTX and Alameda have each used FTX customer funds for a variety of personal expenses, including purchases of luxury real estate, private jets, documented and undocumented personal loans, and personal political donations.” her complaint.
The SEC added that the total real estate purchases amounted to “tens of millions of dollars.”
Family involvement in the scam:
Neither the CFTC nor the Securities and Exchange Commission has clarified the role, if any, of parents. FTX’s newly appointed CEO, restructuring expert John J. Ray III, confirmed at a House Financial Services Committee hearing Tuesday that “the family has received payments.”
Bankman-Fried said at the New York Times’ Deal Book Summit last month that his parents “bear no responsibility” for what happened at FTX and his parents’ home in the Bahamas “wasn’t intended to be their long-term property” and was for the company.
However, even at the height of FTX, some red lines emerged about how Bankman and Fried would invest in their son’s business.
Waiting for the next session to broadcast more on the issue that has rocked the cryptocurrency markets.