On Wednesday evening, the New York Times reported that Sam Bankman-Fried is under federal investigation for allegedly manipulating prices of cryptocurrencies to benefit himself. Bankman-Fried is the founder of FTX and is accused of losing and stealing billions of dollars of investors funds.
Bankman-Fried is also the Democrat’s second largest donor behind George Soros.
“Bankman-Fried himself donated nearly $40 million to Democratic candidates and political action committees, according to OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan organization that tracks campaign spending in US politics,” Business Insider reported. “He was the second highest donor for liberal efforts behind George Soros and the sixth highest donor overall.”
Check out what Market Watch reported:
The New York Times reported Wednesday night that Manhattan-based federal prosecutors are investigating whether Bankman-Fried steered prices of TerraUSD and Luna to benefit FTX and his Alameda hedge fund. Terra and Luna saw more than $50 billion in market value wiped out when they collapsed in May. That contributed to a wider crypto crash, and eventually the implosion of FTX.
The Times reported the probe is in its early stages, and is part of a wider investigation into FTX’s collapse and the potential misappropriation of billions of dollars of customers’ funds, which are now missing. Additionally, the Times confirmed a November Bloomberg report that FTX was also being investigated for potentially violating U.S. money-laundering laws months before FTX’s collapse.
FTX, once one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, collapsed and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November after running into liquidity issues. Bankman-Fried resigned as CEO, and saw his personal fortune of about $23 billion all but evaporate. About $8 billion remains missing from FTX’s balance sheet; Bankman-Fried said in a Bloomberg interview the funds were “misaccounted,”
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The Senate Banking Committee also ordered Bankman-Fried on Wednesday to testify on December 14th and notified that it is ready to issue a subpoena if he fails to comply.
“FTX’s collapse has caused real financial harm to consumers, and effects have spilled over into other parts of the crypto industry. The American people need answers about Sam Bankman-Fried’s misconduct at FTX,” said Senators Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Pat Toomey, R-Pa.
“You must answer for the failure of both entities that was caused, at least in part, by the clear misuse of client funds and wiped out billions of dollars owed to over a million creditors,” the senators said in their letter to Bankman-Fried.
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