The US federal authorities accused this Thursday of four new crimes the founder of the ill-fated cryptocurrency platform FTX, Sam Bankman-Friedin connection with the theft of money from its clients’ deposits to support the operations of the company and its associated investment fund, Alameda Research; make charitable contributions and political donations and get rich.
The Attorney General’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which is investigating the collapse of the platform, amended the initial indictment to include one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and three counts of wire fraud against FTX customers, committed between 2019 and 2022.
Bankman-Fried, now charged with 12 crimes
According to the legal document, Bankman-Fried, who now faces a total of 12 criminal chargescommitted this multi-million dollar fraud through a series of plots that allowed him, through Alameda, “to access and steal the deposits without being detected.”
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He also used the money for fund buyouts and venture investments and to make “tens of millions of dollars in illegal contributions” to both Democrats and Republicans.in an attempt to get FTX-friendly legislation passed, and at times did so on behalf of two platform executives to hide where they came from and evade federal election laws.
To prevent certain contributions from being publicly reported in his name, Bankman-Fried conspired and made certain political contributions on behalf of two other FTX executives,” ultimately choosing an individual identified by a pseudonym in the document to make the donation. legal.
The prosecution cites an example in 2022 when Bankman-Fried and “others agreed that he and his partners should contribute at least $1 million to a super Political Action Committee (PAC) that was supporting a candidate who He was running for a seat in the United States Congress and appeared to be affiliated with pro-LGBTQ issues.”
The money used for the contributions came from Alameda bank accounts, where the money deposited by its clients arrived.
FTX founder continues to plead not guilty
Specific, Bankman-Fried and its partners made more than 300 political donations worth tens of millions of dollars “that were illegal because they were made through fake donors or with corporate funds.”which often allowed him to evade contribution limits, according to the indictment.
The last December, Sam Bankman-Fried was indicted by the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office on eight counts.mainly related to fraud or conspiracy to commit it, to which he pleaded not guilty.
According to those charges, the defendant and his associates “knowingly and intentionally designed a scheme and scheme to defraud, obtain money and property by means of false or fraudulent simulations, representations and promises”and “agreed with others to deceive FTX.com customers by misappropriating their deposits and using them to pay Alameda Research expenses and debts.”
Alameda Research was the investment firm created by Bankman-Fried himself in 2017, in which he allegedly used billions of dollars from FTX clients without their knowledge to carry out risky operations.
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