Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and former CEO of FTX, was extradited to the United States, where he faces civil and criminal charges for the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange. But he is no longer the only company executive in the hands of justice. Late last night, US Attorney Damian Williams announced that Gary Wangco-founder and exCTO of FTX, and Caroline Ellisonformer CEO of Alameda Research, They were also charged with fraud.. Both have pleaded guilty and are cooperating with the investigation, as the seriousness of the charges against them could lead to them spending the rest of their lives in prison.
The timing of the ad It doesn’t seem casual, and hardly is. Until yesterday, Sam Bankman-Fried was the only executive involved in the FTX scandal formally charged with a crime. This suggested that other managers of the disgraced crypto empire could be collaborating with the authorities to evade the harshest punishments.
As reported The Washington Post, Caroline Ellison pleaded guilty to seven charges. Among others, money laundering and conspiring to commit banking, securities and commodity fraud. The charges against him are similar in severity to those facing Sam Bankman-Fried, and he could be sentenced to up to 110 years in prison.
The case of Gary Wang is similar, although only pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud and conspiracy. His possible sentence would not be as extreme as Ellison’s, but he could still face up to 50 years in jail.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s ex-associates cooperate to get less severe sentences
For the time being, Gary Wang and Caroline Ellison were released after posting bail of $250,000 each. By assuming their guilt and cooperating with the authorities to clarify the situation of FTX, both seek to make their punishments less severe. If the prosecutors find that your input is helpful and that the defendants are not violating the terms of their agreement, could recommend less extreme sentences than those mentioned above. However, there are no guarantees that this will eventually be the case.
Following his extradition from the Bahamas, Sam Bankman-Fried is expected to appear in District Court in Manhattan on Thursday. His lawyers also want him to face the judicial process outside of prison, even under house arrest. However, the final decision regarding the matter will be made by the federal judge in charge of the case.
There is much speculation about whether the collaboration of other former FTX executives with federal authorities will complicate the landscape of the former CEO of the company. Keep in mind that, beyond the charges filed by the Department of Justice, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also accused of fraud to Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang.
In this sense, the panorama seems more complicated for Ellison. While both executives are under fire for misleading investors and using their funds in FTX without their consent, the agency claims that the former director of Alameda Research manipulated the price of FTT, the native FTX token. The latter, by direct order of Sam Bankman-Fried.
For the time being, no mention has been made of the situation of Ryan Salami, CoCEO of the FTX subsidiary in the Bahamas. The executive made headlines after ratting out SBF to the island’s Securities Commission, two days before the company went bankrupt. At that time, he assured that only three people had the necessary access to the systems to move funds from FTX to Alameda Research: Gary Wang, Sam Bankman-Fried and Nishad Singhformer head of engineering for the company.