Sam Bankman-Fried.Photo: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty
Jury selection in the federal trial of former cryptocurrency billionaire and FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried will begin Tuesday, theAssociated Press,CNBCandCBS Newsreport.
Arrested on Dec. 12, 2022, in Nassau, Bahamas, where his crypto exchange, FTX, was located, the 31-year-old failed entrepreneur is facing federal charges including wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering after allegedly defrauding FTX customers and lenders to his crypto trading firm, Alameda Research, say prosecutors.
The once high-flying CEO pleaded not guilty to 13 charges, including fraud and bribery.
In Dec. 2022, he was released on $250 million bond and ordered to stay at his parents’ home in Palo Alto, Calif. His bond was revoked in Aug. 2023 for alleged witness tampering. He was then remanded to the custody of U.S. Marshals and then to jail,ABC Newsreported.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried leaves Manhattan Federal Court.David Dee Delgado / Getty Images
David Dee Delgado / Getty Images
Bankman-Fried’s dizzying fall from grace came after authorities began investigating his company in 2022 after it sought bankruptcy protection for losing billions of dollars in a short amount of time.
Calling the case “one of the biggest financial frauds in American history,” Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, which charged Bankman-Fried said in 2022, said, “From 2019 until earlier this year, Bankman-Fried and his co-conspiratorsstole billions of dollars from FTX customers. He used that money for his personal benefit, including to make personal investments and to cover expenses and debts of his hedge fund, Alameda Research,” CNN reports
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletterfor breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
At the height of its success, his company was valued at $40 billion, according to FTX lawyers,NPRreports.
“Most of his wealth,which peaked at an estimated $26.5 billion, was tied up in ownership of about half of FTX and a share of its FTT tokens,” according toForbes.
Bankman-Fried co-founded Alameda Research in 2017, three years after graduating from MIT with a degree in physics. Two years later, Bankman-Fried started FTX.
But in November 2022, FTX collapsed, losing billions in the process,Reutersreported.
FTX Group entities, along with more than 130 affiliates,filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcyon Nov. 11, 2022. Bankman-Fried tweeted the news, in addition to his decision to step down as CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange company.
The firm was forced to file for bankruptcy,The New York Timesreported.
The collapse rocked his trading firm, Alameda, which had borrowed a large amount of funds from the exchange, Reuters reported.
“The liquidity crunch at FTX came after Bankman-Friedsecretly moved $10 billionof FTX customer funds to Alameda Research,” sources close to the matter told Reuters. Bankman-Fried, in text messages to Reuters, disagreed with the characterization of the transfer as ‘secret.’
Bankman-Fried’s ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison, who headed Alameda Research has pleaded guilty to federal charges and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, ABC News reported.
If convicted, Bankman-Fried is facing apotential prison sentence of 115 years.
His attorneys did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
source: people.com
