In a new filing, the U.S. Justice Department claimed that Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, attempted to delay bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. with the aim of transferring assets from his cryptocurrency trading platform to foreign regulators, the Wall Street Journal reports.
According to federal prosecutors, Bankman-Fried hoped that foreign regulators would be lenient toward him and eventually let him take back control of the failed cryptocurrency exchange.
The allegations stemmed from statements he made to FTX co-founder Gary Wang. Wang now is cooperating with federal prosecutors after pleading guilty.
Prosecutors further claimed that Mr. Bankman-Fried had allowed Bahamian customers to withdraw millions of dollars after FTX froze customer accounts, and wrote a letter expressing his "deep gratitude" and apologizing for the debacle.Additionally, prosecutors made an effort to stop Bankman-Fried from contacting current or former employees due to alleged attempts by Mr. Bankman-Fried to reach out directly to witnesses in this case without representation present.
The case against the embattled FTX founder has become increasingly complicated as stocks owned by Almeda Research, which were purchased with misappropriated customer funds, were recently seized by U.S. government officials, and two parties are now disputing ownership.
Gamza Khanzadaev
Tomiwabold Olajide
Arman Shirinyan