Justice Department indicts ex-FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried
Federal prosecutors have charged FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried with conspiracy to wire and securities fraud, conspiracy to defraud the US and violations of campaign finance regulations.
Additional charges include wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering.
The indictment was unsealed Tuesday by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York. Officials claim SBF has a long history of criminal activity, dating back to 2019. He is also accused of making illegal political campaign contributions using aliases.
The unsealing of the indictments comes just before FTX’s new CEO, John Ray III, is due to testify before a House committee on the disgraced crypto exchange.
“The defendant … was involved in a scheme “to defraud customers of FTX.com by embezzling those customers’ deposits and using those deposits to pay off expenses and debts of Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried’s proprietary crypto hedge fund. and used to make investments.” Prosecutors charged.
The allegations come just hours after a separate filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission
“Bankman-Fried raised more than $1.8 billion from investors … who bought an equity stake in FTX believing that FTX had adequate controls and risk management measures in place,” the document said. “Unknowingly of these investors (and FTX’s trading clients), Bankman-Fried orchestrated a massive, year-long scam by diverting billions of dollars of the trading platform’s client funds for his own personal gain and helping to grow his crypto empire.”
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