FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Is Said To Face Market Manipulation Inquiry (nytimes.com) 23
Federal prosecutors are investigating whether FTX's founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, manipulated the market for two cryptocurrencies this past spring, leading to their collapse and creating a domino effect that eventually caused the implosion of his own cryptocurrency exchange last month, The New York Times reports, citing people with knowledge of the matter. From the report: U.S. prosecutors in Manhattan are examining the possibility that Mr. Bankman-Fried steered the prices of two interlinked currencies, TerraUSD and Luna, to benefit the entities he controlled, including FTX and Alameda Research, a hedge fund he co-founded and owned, the people said. The investigation is in its early stages, and it is not clear whether prosecutors have determined any wrongdoing by Mr. Bankman-Fried, or when they began looking at the TerraUSD and Luna trades. The matter is part of a broadening inquiry into the collapse of Mr. Bankman-Fried's Bahamas-based cryptocurrency empire, and the potential misappropriation of billions of dollars in customer funds.
Federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission have been examining whether FTX broke the law by transferring its customer funds to Alameda. Last month, a run on deposits exposed an $8 billion hole in the exchange's accounts, causing the company to collapse. Mr. Bankman-Fried stepped down as FTX's chief executive when the company filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11. FTX is also under investigation for violating U.S. money-laundering laws that require money transfer businesses to know who their customers are and flag any potentially illegal activity to law enforcement authorities, three people familiar with the investigation said. That investigation, first reported by Bloomberg News, began several months before the bankruptcy of FTX. Investigators are also looking into the activities of other offshore cryptocurrency trading platforms.
Federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission have been examining whether FTX broke the law by transferring its customer funds to Alameda. Last month, a run on deposits exposed an $8 billion hole in the exchange's accounts, causing the company to collapse. Mr. Bankman-Fried stepped down as FTX's chief executive when the company filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11. FTX is also under investigation for violating U.S. money-laundering laws that require money transfer businesses to know who their customers are and flag any potentially illegal activity to law enforcement authorities, three people familiar with the investigation said. That investigation, first reported by Bloomberg News, began several months before the bankruptcy of FTX. Investigators are also looking into the activities of other offshore cryptocurrency trading platforms.
Classic Blunder (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Wait, why drink some bleach? There is an insurmountable amount of evidence showing Ukraine invested in FTX and that money made it back to democrats and republican super PACS. Do you ... you seriously deny that?
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Looks pretty free to me (Score:1)
You can't steal money from rich people and hope to get away with it.
Are you sure about that? SBF is wandering around free giving talks at conferences.
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We're still early in the process.
Look at where Madoff was comparatively in his timeline, long behind bars. Plenty of cases of the U.S. holding flight risks or simply holding people without charge they didn't like...
The fact SBF has not been arrested by now means they are trying to find some way not to ever arrest him.
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Classic Blunder.
He thought he could go up against a Sicilian when death was on the line.
is said to face a firing squad (Score:1)
Not sure if anyone watched the Cold Fusion Youtube video on FTX but after watching that you might agree with the title.
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I'm not sure why. A bunch of greedy dumbasses gave an irresponsible dumbass their money and he (shockingly) did irresponsible things with it.
Hopefully it's a lesson that acting irresponsibly means you're likely irresponsible, not a genius.
Not clear of wrongdoing? (Score:4, Interesting)
> and it is not clear whether prosecutors have determined any wrongdoing by Mr. Bankman-Fried,
Holy shit, how fucking stupid are these prosecutors? Guess all those campaign donations [youtu.be] are starting to pay off.
Divisions in Sam Bankman-Fried's Crypto Empire Blur on His Trading Titan Alameda's Balance Sheet [coindesk.com]
Almeda lists 14.6 billion of assets of which $3.6 billion is FFT another $2.16 billion of FTT collateral.
SBF admitted that Alameda had been allowed to exceed normal borrowing limits on the FTX exchange since its early days.
Gee, Conflict of Interest between FTX and Alameda much?! /s
Yup, no wrongdoings here! /s
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> Holy shit, how fucking stupid are these prosecutors?
They're not. It's called corruption. This guy should be treated like a Bernie Madoff, but he can't because everything leads straight back to prominent members in both the Democrat and Republican parties.
I highly recommend the recent Unlimited Hangouts podcast on FTX:
https://unlimitedhangout.com/2... [unlimitedhangout.com]
It goes into Effective Alturism and how Bankman was basically picked and groomed to be a fraudster. The rabbit hole is deep on this.
Asking for a friend (Score:2)
Can you be guilty of breaking laws that apply to regulated markets when the government has specifically decided NOT to regulate you?
I know they started some regulations this year, but no one made these companies register as banks or financial markets afaik.
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Can you be guilty of breaking laws that apply to regulated markets when the government has specifically decided NOT to regulate you?
I know they started some regulations this year, but no one made these companies register as banks or financial markets afaik.
Crypto cannot exist with regulation.
Wut? (Score:2)
No regulation, and no crime. This is part and parcel of crypto, nothing to see here.
Not Expected With Valueless Currency (Score:2)
How ever could they have made a more risky investment than fake currency?