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Sam Bankman-Fried

FTX: SBF’s Lawyers File Motion To Squash 10 Criminal Charges

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The legal team of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried [SBF] who is indicted on 13 criminal counts has now filed documents requesting the court to drop 10 of those charges arguing that the government “classic[ally] rushed to judgment.”

According to the attorneys, additional allegations against Bankman-Fried in a supplemental indictment breach the extradition agreement with the Bahamas.

Crypto researcher Molly White who first broke the news noted that “at least part of it seems to come down to the fact that additional charges were added after SBF’s extradition agreement was made.”

One of the justifications for tossing out the charges outlined in the file was the team in charge of FTX’s bankruptcy procedures is said to have joined the prosecution.

This was a direct reference to FTX’s new CEO John Ray III and his staff who the attorneys blamed were compiling evidence on behalf of the prosecution.

According to the motion notice filed in the southern district court of New York on May 8, the defense team of the indicted CEO has sought to dismiss all except for three charges- conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Prosecutors have until May 29 to respond to this dismissal plea, and U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan will hear arguments on the matter on June 15.

SBF’s latest move to drop the majority of the allegations stands in stark contrast to the other members of the FTX founder’s so-called inner circle, who have all pleaded guilty and are cooperating with the prosecution’s probe.

FTX Former CEO’s Trial Starts In Oct

The ousted CEO had already entered a not-guilty plea to eight criminal charges in January and five additional counts in March.

This was no surprise as criminal lawyers predicted that Bankman-Fried would enter a not-guilty plea. Christine Chung, a Law professor said;

It is common for defendants to do this. A not-guilty plea generally opens the door to the discovery process, which would give Sam Bankman-Fried a better idea of the evidence that the government has collected thus far in its investigation.

FTX and sister firm Alameda collapsed in November after concerns over their balance sheet sparked a bank run leading to their bankruptcy. Bankman-Fried’s trial is set to begin in October.

FTX Plans To Resume Operations After $7.3B Fund Recovery

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Defunct crypto exchange FTX is planning to get back to business by July after its lawyers told the court they’ve recovered $7.3 billion in liquid assets.

According to sources, these assets included $2 billion in cash, $4.3 billion in Class A cryptocurrencies, $300 million in securities, and $600 million in investment receivables, etc.

Andy Dietderich, the principal attorney for the exchange told in court that relaunching is one of many alternatives being evaluated for the future of the firm.

Dietderich claimed that choosing this option would require raising a sizable sum of money. He also revealed that the company had an internal debate over whether the funding should come from the FTX estate or from outside sources.

The possibility of allowing some of FTX’s creditors to convert their holdings into shares of a reopened exchange was also discussed. The attorney noted that the decision to restart FTX is just one of many options and is not yet finalized.

“There are as many opinions on this, I think, as there are professionals involved in this case,” Dietderich said. “And that’s a lot.”

As the news spread, Crypto Twitter came out with hilarious reactions.

Popular crypto analyst and host of The Wolf of All Streets podcast, Scott Melker, responded by asking it to switch those “machines back on” and posting comments like “FTX found 7.3 billion in the couch cushions.”

Another included a fake GoFundMe website where Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, was shown pleading for support in order to relaunch.

Others took a more imaginative approach and created movie posters featuring SBF and US Vice President Joe Biden holding overflowing suitcases of cash as a dig at the massive donations made to politicians.

The news comes after the exchange under its new management recently published its first report since its collapse on Nov 2022.

FTX’s FTT Surge By A Whopping 89%

In the 45-page analysis, the trading platform came down hard on its former execs accusing them of “lacking key financial and accounting controls” while having billions of dollars worth of assets and a huge volume of transactions.

It also spilled details on FTX’s sister firm Alameda Research whose over-reliance on the FTX token [FTT] led to the meltdown.

Meanwhile, FTT, the native token increased by nearly 90% over the past day, following the revelation of a possible resurrection.

Robinhood Aims To Take Back $578M of Sam Bankman-Fried’s Stake

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On Wednesday following the end of the markets, Robinhood disclosed its financial results for the fourth quarter. The American FinServ company claimed higher fourth-quarter sales as a result of the income surge.

In the final quarter of 2022, Robinhood’s net interest revenue increased by 165% to $167 million. However, due to cautious retail traders in the face of choppy market circumstances, transaction-based revenue fell 30% in the quarter. Numbers specific to cryptocurrencies showed a 24% drop to $39 million over that time.

In addition, the net loss in the fourth quarter of 2022 decreased to 19 cents per share. For comparison, the same price per share in 2022 was inflated to 49 cents. In total, the business generated $380 million in revenue over the aforementioned three-month period, up from $363 million the previous year.

Shares of Robinhood were up 5% during after-market trading and were now trading at $10.47.

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SBF’s Shares To Be Repurchased By Robinhood

Apart from the company’s financial stability, the research also made another significant discovery. The shares that SBF purchased from Robinhood in May of last year may now be repurchased, according to the board of directors. Jason Warnick, the chief financial officer, said,

“Our Board authorized us to pursue purchasing most or all of our shares that Emergent Fidelity Technologies bought in May 2022.”

Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX and Gary Wang, a former CEO, co-founded the company known as Emergent Fidelity Technologies. Last week, the business filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Warnick continued,

“We’re prioritizing to make sure we get these shares free and clear of any claims.”

The CEO went on to claim that the proposed share acquisition demonstrated the management teams and board of directors’ “confidence” in the company.

Bankman-Fried has repeatedly argued that he should keep ownership of the shares to pay for his legal costs even though Emergent was the firm that held the Robinhood shares. Nevertheless, the assets were taken over by federal authorities last month.

In addition, FTX spent $20.3 million in consulting and legal expenses to the attorneys during the first few months of its bankruptcy, according to information from recent court filings.

SBF’s Bail Plea Conditions Under Negotiation

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The FTX empire and its creator Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) fell, and the entire world, along with it, observed it. The former CEO is currently subject to home arrest, which comes with regulations that must be followed. SBF’s lawyers argued against the same and presented the Judge with a new request.

According to a recent court filing, the former FTX CEO hopes to “resolve the lingering concerns” related to his release restrictions. In addition, SBF’s attorney, Mark Cohen, wrote,

“The parties would like to continue these discussions, which we are optimistic will lead to an agreement between the parties in the next few days and eliminate the need for further litigation.”

Judge Lewis Kaplan of the U.S. District Court changed the requirements for SBF’s bail earlier this week. The Judge prohibited the troubled CEO from contacting any FTX or Alameda current or former employees. He was barred from doing so when using Signal and other communications programs. This was carried out in response to the prosecution’s assertion that the former CEO had contact with these staff members, including Ryne Miller, the general counsel for FTX US.

SBF also tried to “provide help” to John Ray, the new CEO of FTX.

SBF To Stay “In Touch With Them”

The most recent court document asks the judge to permit SBF to contact them. pointing out that they were “a crucial source of personal support.” Cohen argued that SBF should speak with George Lerner, an internal therapist at the company.

He earlier got in touch with Miller and told him,

“I would really love to reconnect and see if there’s a way for us to have a constructive relationship, use each other as resources when possible, or at least vet things with each other.”

The Judge might not concur, but it is unlikely that the community would. The deadline for reply papers has now been moved to February 6 as of publication. The oral defense of the bail was postponed until February 9, 2023.

SBF’s $250M Bail Providers To Be Made Public Per Judge Orders

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The collapse of FTX had a significant influence on the market as a whole. After Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) was taken into custody, justice was partially done. He was nonetheless given a huge $250 million bond and is now under home arrest. His parents were guarantors of this bond, but the identities of the other two remained secret. In the future, though, it might alter quickly. US District Judge Lewis Kaplan reportedly ordered that information on these people can be made public.

After threats were made against SBF’s parents, these people’s identities were kept a secret. Not only that. The likelihood that the two could face “harassment” and “media attention” while having no link to the FTX case was emphasized. Judge Kaplan, however, said,

“The information at issue is entitled only to weak presumption of access, yet the countervailing factors are not sufficiently persuasive to overcome even that presumption.”

It should be mentioned that the Judge thinks the arguments on both sides didn’t carry much weight. He nevertheless proceeded with the applications “for the limited purpose of asserting the public’s claimed right of access” to the names of SBF’s guarantors.

US District Judge Lewis Kaplan delayed the order’s effect until February 7 to allow for an appeal.

Furthermore, a number of media outlets, including the Associated Press, Bloomberg, CNBC, Dow Jones, The Financial Times, Insider, and the Washington Post, wrote Judge Kaplan a letter about the matter in the past. The lawyers for these media companies added,

“…the public’s right to know Bankman-Fried’s guarantors outweighed their privacy and safety rights.”

SBF’s Friends In Need Turned Friends Indeed

The majority of the community made the assumption that it was Kevin O’Leary from Shark Tank. After the incident, “Mr. Wonderful” repeatedly defended SBF in front of the public. During the same time period, O’Leary also criticized Binance, a competing exchange. Therefore, despite suffering a $15 million loss, some people speculated that he might be one of them.

The name of American billionaire investor Bill Ackman also came up because he had previously backed SBF throughout the decline. The community also humorously speculated that SEC Chairman Gary Gensler might be one of them in addition to these identities.

Dogecoin Co-founder And Elon Musk Take A Dig At SBF’s $700M Confiscation

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The friendship between the Dogecoin co-founder, Billy Markus, and the Tesla CEO, Elon Musk dates Back to a time that one can’t remember. Time and again they have showcased their bond on social media. However, this time it was no different.

Sam Bankman-Fried (widely known in the crypto space as SBF), the founder of the troubled FTX exchange, was reportedly the target of prosecutors from the DOJ, according to a recent TWJ report. The article cites a court filing from last Friday.

The Dogecoin co-founder tweeted the report along with a humorous comment in which he referenced SBF when the FTX founder claimed in court that he had just $100,000 left over from his billions. The money taken from SBF that was previously disclosed was primarily in the form of Robinhood shares.

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and Twitter, responded to that with two ROFL emojis. When FTX and its founder SBF were accused of scamming investors and the exchange went bankrupt, both Musk and Markus were harshly critical of both parties.

SBF was accused of using substantial amounts of USD from FTX members to save his crypto trading company Alameda Research, however, he pleaded innocent to the accusations. In the fall of this year, he will stand trial for this.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the confiscation of Bankman-Fried’s assets earlier this year. The majority of them were held in the form of Robinhood shares (HOOD), but there were also monies in several banks and crypto deposits on the Binance cryptocurrency exchange.

Federal prosecutors from the DOJ, in particular, last week seized around $100 million from SBF’s accounts, which he kept in Silvergate Bank connected to FTX Digital Markets, an FTX company with headquarters in the Bahamas.

Dogecoin Fan, Musk Refused SBF’s $5B Offer

Sam Bankman-Fried contacted Elon Musk earlier last year to offer him a $5 billion investment to help him acquire the social media company, long before FTX’s problems became apparent to everyone in the market. He also assisted with the transition of Twitter to blockchain rails.

The Dogecoin (DOGE) supporter, Musk, rejected his offer with the money, explaining to him that putting Twitter on a blockchain was not possible. Musk purchased Twitter outright for a total of $44 billion; the agreement was signed in late October of last year.

At the time of writing, Dogecoin was priced at $0.08651 with a hike of 6.73% over the last 24 hours, as per Coin Market Cap (CMC).

SBF’s $250M Bond Builds Curiosity Among Media Cats: Details

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Everyone is seeing the tragedy that followed SBF’s FTX collapse. Media outlets around the world were obviously interested in Sam Bankman-Fried as he sat in his home under house arrest and wrote a lengthy blog entry.

SBF was given a $250 million bail back in December. It has been acknowledged as the largest pre-trial bail bond in American history. The judge reportedly asked two more people of “great means” to sign the bond due to the size of the bail. The names of these guarantors were kept a secret, nevertheless.

In a letter to New York District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan, eight media organizations, including the Associated Press, Bloomberg, CNBC, Dow Jones, The Financial Times, Insider, and the Washington Post, disputed the claim. These media companies were represented by lawyers from Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.

The lawyers stated in the letter that the public had a right to know who was the guarantor of SBF. They claimed,

“The public’s right to know Bankman-Fried’s guarantors outweighed their privacy and safety rights.”

Over the past three months, SBF’s parents, who also signed the bond, have received numerous threats. As a result, the guarantors’ names were kept a secret. Previously, SBF’s counsel emphasized the same, declaring,

“If the two remaining sureties are publicly identified, they will likely be subjected to probing media scrutiny and potentially targeted for harassment, despite having no substantive connection to the case.”

Media Advocates’ Take On SBF’s Guarantors

To show how minor FTX’s demise was, the attorneys contrasted SBF’s case with Jeffery Epstein’s child sex trafficking case. They consequently asked for information about the guarantors. It should be noted that Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawsuit dated December 2020 omitted the names of the bond guarantors.

The attorneys elaborated further, saying,

“While Mr. Bankman-Fried is accused of serious financial crimes, a public association with him does not carry nearly the same stigma as with the Jeffrey Epstein child sex trafficking scandal.”

Users hope that justice will be done as this case continues to take bizarre turns.

SBF makes Big Claims While Making Staunch Promises

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Sam Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF, the founder of the defunct cryptocurrency exchange, has published a post-mortem on the FTX-Alameda crash. The former CEO has outlined the convergence of three significant occurrences that ultimately caused the company’s downfall. The final one placed the blame on Changpeng Zhao, otherwise known as CZ, the CEO of Binance.

The first occasion, in accordance with Bankman-Fried, was Alameda’s statistics in 2021. The net asset value on its balance sheet was close to $100 billion. In contrast, net borrowing and available cash were $8 billion and $7 billion, respectively. The investment arm’s failure to “sufficiently hedge its market exposure” was the second occurrence. And the stock and cryptocurrency markets lost the majority of their value through 2022.

The crypto tycoon mentioned the CEO of Binance as the final and subsequent reason, saying,

“In November 2022, an extreme, quick, targeted crash precipitated by the CEO of Binance made Alameda insolvent.”

A market frenzy resulted after Binance’s CEO’s announcement that it would sell all of its remaining FTT tokens following a revelation that Alameda’s balance sheet consisted primarily of FTT. According to CZ, this action was taken as part of its “post-exit risk management,” and they “won’t pretend to make love after divorce,” they added.

SBF stated in his post-mortem,

“But the November crash was a targeted attack on assets held by Alameda, not a broad market move. Over the few days in November, Alameda’s assets fell roughly 50%; BTC fell about 15%–only 30% as much as Alameda’s assets–and QQQ didn’t move at all”

SBF Blames Binance CEO’s Targeted Crash

According to SBF, this caused “Alameda’s contagion” to spread to FTX and other organizations. Additionally, Bankman-Fried argued that FTX US was totally solvent and should be able to make its clients whole again despite the demise of both organizations.

Additionally, according to SBF, FTX US had more than $350 million in net cash when John Ray took over as CEO and the exchange started the bankruptcy process. He asserted that net cash exceeded customer balances and called the time it took for customers to receive their money back “ridiculous.”

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Additionally, the former CEO asserted that he had “offered” all of his Robinhood shares to investors, adding that it would have been 100% if the bankruptcy team had assumed responsibility for D&O legal expense indemnification.

The former CEO said,

“FTX International has many billions of dollars of assets, and I am dedicating nearly all of my personal assets to customers.”

When It Rains, It pours: SBF To Face Separate Charges from SEC

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Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the disgraced founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is still in for more bad times.

Sam Bankman-Fried will face charges from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which will be distinct from the ones that led to his most recent detention in The Bahamas, on December 12.

The SEC tweeted a remark from Gurbir Grewal, the director of its division of enforcement, indicating that the organization has “authorized separate charges relating to his violations of securities laws.”

Grewal stated that the Southern District of New York would get the charges “tomorrow,” on December 14. (SDNY).

Only a few hours have passed since Sam Bankman-Fried was detained in The Bahamas on December 12 before the SEC made its announcement.

Attorney General of the Bahamas, Senator Ryan Pinder said in a statement that the arrest came as a result of receiving official notice from the US that it has charged SBF with crimes and will likely ask for his extradition.

Although specifics about the allegations have not been confirmed, it is believed that they relate to money laundering, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and wire and securities fraud.

Grewal praised the “law enforcement partners” of the SEC in his most recent statement for securing Bankman-arrest Fried’s on federal criminal charges.

News of SBF’s Arrest Floods Crypto Twitter

Crypto Many people were shocked that Sam Bankman-Fried had been arrested in the Bahamas so swiftly, and Twitter has gone crazy over the surprising news.

The disgraced FTX founder was detained by the Royal Bahamas Police on December 12 after they learned that the US government had charged him with a crime.

Within a few hours, influencers, lawmakers, and crypto executives were all logged into their Twitter accounts to post reactions to the former CEO’s arrest.

The arrest of Bankman-Fried was a step toward “justice being served,” New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told her 13.4 million Twitter followers. However, she added that the arrest would delay Bankman-testimony Fried’s before the House Financial Services Committee, which was scheduled for December 13.

In a tweet, U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis expressed her satisfaction with the prosecution’s choice to charge Bankman-Fried with the “good, old-fashioned fraud” that she believed he had committed.

Elizabeth Warren, a fellow senator from the United States and a crypto skeptic, concurred, saying in a tweet to her 7 million followers on December 13 that the U.S. Department of Justice needs to hold more criminal business CEOs accountable.

Others seized the chance to make fun of everything. Using ChatGPT, Benjamin Cowen, the CEO and founder of the crypto-analysis channel Into The Cryptoverse, wrote poetry about Bankman-Fried’s most recent situation.

Memes are currently trending on Twitter in the meantime.

Since FTX’s shocking collapse in November, a lot has been said about Bankman-Fried’s Twitter messages and media appearances.

Trung Phan, the co-host of Not Investment Advice, stated to his 538,000 Twitter followers on December 13 that SBF’s erratic public behavior will make it more difficult for his defense lawyer to represent him. Others think that after being arrested, SBF will likely point the finger at coworkers and people connected to the FTX scandal, including those who received his sizable political donations.

When asked about the potential during what is probably his final Twitter Spaces interview, with Unusual Whales on December 12, SBF responded, “I don’t think I’ll be arrested.”

According to a Dec. 12 press release by the Bahamas’ Office of the Attorney General, the Royal Bahamas Police Force made the arrest after receiving official information from the US that it has charged Bankman-Fried.

SBF Hopes to Begin a New Venture, Would Like to Pay Investors Back

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The 30-year-old SBF is the subject of numerous federal inquiries into the financial management of his former company. The former billionaire says he was “not nearly as competent as I thought I was” but denies fraud while speaking in a luxury complex in the Bahamas.

However, it was discovered last month that FTX and SBF’s separate businesses, Alameda Research, were both in financial trouble. Everything fell apart in just eight days, and bankruptcy papers were filed.

A million and more FTX users are reportedly unable to access their funds stored on the crypto exchange.

SBF hopes to pay back FTX users

Mr. Bankman-Fried extended an invitation to the BBC to his current residence in the Bahamas and said he hoped to find a way to make FTX users whole.

“I’m going to be thinking about how we can help the world and if users haven’t gotten much back, I’m going to be thinking about what I can do for them. And I think at the very least I have a duty to FTX users to do right by them as best as I can.”

SBF

When asked if he intended to launch a new business to generate the funds needed to repay investors, he replied: “To be able to do that, I would do anything. And I’ll make an effort if I can.”

The FTX scandal has been referred to as “one of the most abrupt and difficult collapses in the history of corporate America” by bankruptcy attorneys. They claim that Mr. Bankman-Fried has treated the business like “his own personal fiefdom.”

The former CEO agreed on Friday to appear at the hearings into the collapsed exchange that the US Senate Banking Committee has requested he testify at next week.

His team claims that due to “security concerns,” they were forced to move to an undisclosed location within the opulent resort where he resides.

Telephoto reporters have captured images of him in his apartment from the water, and at least two YouTubers have gained entry to the building to record videos.

With no exposure to his bank accounts and “less than $100K left,” Mr. Bankman-Fried, who emerges from a wealthy family, asserts to be worried about his own personal finances.