12 criminal charges have been filed against Sam Bankman-Fried
2023.02.23 15:11
12 criminal charges have been filed against Sam Bankman-Fried
By Tiffany Smith
Budrigannews.com – An unsealed superseding indictment containing 12 criminal counts has been ordered by the federal judge in charge of Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried’s case.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams asserts in the indictment that was filed with the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on February 22 that Bankman-Fried’s actions in the matter involving FTX and Alameda necessitated the filing of 12 charges. The indictment stated that there were four charges of wire fraud and securities fraud in addition to eight conspiracy charges related to fraud.
The superseding indictment mentions an additional charge for conspiracy to commit bank fraud and breaks down individual wire fraud charges related to Bankman-Fried’s alleged actions at FTX and Alameda. The original indictment against Bankman-Fried was released on December 13 and contained eight similar charges. The superseding indictment pertaining to the “purchase and sales of derivatives” at FTX appears to have included conspiracy to commit commodities fraud in its charges at the time.
The indictment states that Bankman-Fried committed fraud when he tried to open a bank account and get user deposits:
“[Bankman-Fried and others] falsely represented to a financial institution that the account would be used for trading and market making, even though [he] knew that the account would be used to receive and transmit customer funds in the operation of a cryptocurrency exchange, and then, in connection with using the account for the receipt and transmission of customer funds, omitted material facts in a manner that made what was communicated misleading.” This was the case despite the fact that Bankman-Fried was aware that the account would be
In Manhattan federal court, a new superseding indictment with 12 charges against FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried was unsealed.
The filing stated that SBF and others used “straw donors” or corporate funds to make more than 300 contributions totaling “tens of millions of dollars” in relation to the allegations of illegal political contributions. The U.S. attorney claimed that Bankman-Fried was able to “evade contribution limits on individual donations” set by the Federal Election Commission, which are typically $100, by using straw donors.
According to the filing, “The transfers to Bankman-Fried [and two other FTX executives] in the months before the 2022 midterm elections were not recorded on internal Alameda tracking spreadsheets” despite the fact that employees at Alameda generally tracked loans to executives. Instead, despite the fact that FEC records indicate that Alameda made no political contributions to candidates or PACs for the 2022 midterm elections, an internal Alameda spreadsheet noted over $100 million in political contributions.
Since a bail hearing in December, when his parents agreed to contribute the equity from their California home to Bankman-Fried’s $250 million bond, the former FTX CEO has been confined largely to their home. Research scientist Andreas Paepcke and former law school dean Larry Kramer, both Stanford University employees, agreed to serve as sureties for Bankman-Fried’s bail, which was set at $200,000 and $500,000, respectively.
The criminal trial for Bankman-Fried in federal court is set to begin in October, while FTX’s bankruptcy case is still pending in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. In a plea deal, Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, and Gary Wang, the co-founder of FTX, pleaded guilty to the same charges as SBF. Numerous experts speculated that they might testify on his behalf.
