Breaking: Ex-FTX CEO SBF Using Alameda Money For Legal Defense: Forbes

Ex-FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is using Alameda funds he gifted his father to pay for hefty legal fees charged by lawyers.
By Varinder Singh
Sam Bankman-Fried FTX DOJ

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is reportedly using Alameda Research funds to pay for hefty legal fees charged by his lawyers for his high-profile criminal fraud lawsuit that costs investors billions of dollars.

While Sam Bankman-Fried has denied all charges against him, recent reports have revealed bribery and market manipulation to great extent done when he was the CEO of crypto exchange FTX.

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Allegations Against Sam Bankman-Fried Continues to Rise

Sam Bankman-Fried had just $100,000 in his bank account during the bankruptcy filing, but he hired some top attorneys for his legal defense. The $250 million bail bond even created drama with many questioning how he is paying for the lawsuits.

According to a new report by Forbes, Sam Bankman-Fried made a large monetary gift to his father Stanford Law professor Joseph Bankman in 2021 under lifetime estate and gift tax exemption. SBF is paying high legal fees from the same “multi-million dollar gift” he paid by borrowing from FTX’s sister company Alameda Research.

SBF has pleaded not guilty to 12 criminal charges including wire fraud, money laundering, and securities fraud. A new indictment of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for giving a bribe of $40 million to Chinese government officials.

FTX debtors revealed earlier that Sam Bankman-Fried improperly received $2.2 billion in loans from the company. Despite accounting for all funds, $8.9 billion in customer deposits are still missing.

Furthermore, Genesis executives were offered to invest in FTX Token (FTT) at discounted rates. Genesis executives’ presale access to FTT and Serum tokens gave them an opportunity to maximize profit by investing before the tokens were issued to the public.

Meanwhile, Former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried reached an agreement with US prosecutors on new bail conditions set forward after modifications agreed upon by both parties, allowing SBF a phone without internet and a laptop with limited access to the internet.

Also Read: XRP Price Spikes By 18%, Breaches $0.56 level; What’s Happening?

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Varinder Singh
Varinder has over 10 years of experience and is known as a seasoned leader for his involvement in the fintech sector. With over 5 years dedicated to blockchain, crypto, and Web3 developments, he has experienced two Bitcoin halving events making him key opinion leader in the space. At CoinGape Media, Varinder leads the editorial decisions, spearheading the news team to cover latest updates, markets trends and developments within the crypto industry. The company was recognized as Best Crypto Media Company 2024 for high impact and quality reporting. Being a Master of Technology degree holder, analytics thinker, technology enthusiast, Varinder has shared his knowledge of disruptive technologies in over 5000+ news, articles, and papers.
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