English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Indonesian
Russian
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Sam Bankman-Fried and his co-conspirators made greater than 300 unlawful political donations in the US, in keeping with a brand new indictment towards the FTX cryptocurrency alternate founder unsealed on Thursday in Manhattan federal court docket.
The donations, totaling tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars}, have been illegal as a result of they have been attributed to a “straw donor” or made utilizing company funds, usually permitting Bankman-Fried to evade contribution limits on particular person contributions to candidates, prosecutors mentioned.
General, the brand new indictment accommodates 4 fraud fees and eight conspiracy fees.
Bankman-Fried was beforehand hit with eight counts of fraud, cash laundering and different fees over the collapse of the now-bankrupt alternate. He has pleaded not responsible in these circumstances.
Prosecutors say Bankman-Fried used the stolen buyer funds to plug losses at Alameda Analysis, his hedge fund. Alameda’s former chief government, Caroline Ellison, and a former FTX government, Gary Wang, have each pleaded responsible to fraud fees and agreed to cooperate with the investigation.
“Exploiting the belief that FTX prospects positioned in him and his alternate, Bankman-Fried stole FTX buyer deposits, and used billions of {dollars} in stolen funds for a wide range of functions,” reads the brand new indictment, which was filed on Wednesday.
After founding FTX in 2019, Bankman-Fried rode a growth within the worth of and different digital property to realize an estimated $26 billion web price. He additionally turned an influential political donor in the US till the alternate collapsed in November amid a flurry of buyer withdrawals.
The brand new indictment hit Bankman-Fried with extra fees of conspiracy to commit financial institution fraud and conspiracy to function an unlicensed cash transmitting enterprise.
A spokesman for Bankman-Fried didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.