The disgraced former billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO and owner of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, entered a not guilty plea to charges coming from claims that he and people associated with him robbed FTX’s customers of billions.
On December 13, federal prosecutors filed eight counts of fraud against Bankman-Fried, claiming that the former tech tycoon had been using client cash to pay for trades made by Alameda Research, a trading firm the former billionaire owned, at least since 2019.
Sam Bankman-Fried has arrived in court for his arraignment. We’re told he will plead not guilty to all the charges against him. pic.twitter.com/yakSLkOus8
— Connell McShane (@connellmcshane) January 3, 2023
Former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison and co-founder and former CTO of FTX Gary Wang, two of Bankman- Fried’s business partners, have both pleaded guilty to their roles in the alleged scheme. Ellison testified Dec. 19 that she knowingly assisted Bankman-Fried in falsifying the company’s books to hide billions of dollars’ worth of illegal loans that Alameda and FTX made to connected parties.
On December 13, federal prosecutors filed eight counts of fraud against Bankman-Fried, claiming that the former tech tycoon had been using client cash to pay for trades made by Alameda Research, a trading firm the former billionaire owned, at least since 2019.
Former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison and co-founder and former CTO of FTX Gary Wang, two of Bankman- Fried’s business partners, have both pleaded guilty to their roles in the alleged scheme. Ellison testified Dec. 19 that she knowingly assisted Bankman-Fried in falsifying the company’s books to hide billions of dollars’ worth of illegal loans that Alameda and FTX made to connected parties.
According to the watchdog OpenSecrets, Bankman-Fried was the second highest individual donor to Democratic causes in the 2022 midterm cycle. He is also accused of conspiring to break the law by giving money to candidates.
Barbara Fried, Bankman- Fried’s mother, and Gabriel Bankman-Fried, his brother, both left their positions in the Democrat-aligned dark money organization Mind The Gap after FTX’s demise.
At the US government’s request, Bankman-Fried was detained in the Bahamas on December 12 and extradited to New York City on December 21. On December 22, he was granted freedom to live with his parents in Palo Alto, California, after posting a $250 million bail bond.
