Cuffed in the Bahamas – Sam Bankman-Fried Arrested
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced new charges against Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX, and Alameda Research on Tuesday. The charges allege that FTX commingled customer funds and that Bankman-Fried violated the Commodities Exchange Act. These charges come on top of previous allegations against Bankman-Fried and his companies. The CFTC filing claimed that Alameda Research – Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund – had access to as much as $8 billion in customer funds in an account nominally on FTX’s books but controlled and in the name of Alameda. The CFTC alleged that from the founding of FTX in 2019, Alameda “accessed and used FTX customer funds for Alameda’s own operations and activities, including to fund its trading, investment, and borrowing/lending activities.” The CFTC also alleged that FTX allowed Alameda access to massive amounts of liquidity, backstopping risky bets on crypto assets and derivatives.
With evidence and pressure mounting, SBF was finally arrested in the Bahamas on Monday, after US prosecutors filed criminal charges against him. It is unclear what the charges are, but the New York Times reported that they include wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy, and money laundering.
What do you think will happen to SBF? Will he follow in the footsteps of fellow fraudster founders like Elizabeth Holmes to go behind bars, or will he get away with a lighter punishment?
Want to learn how to invest? Download the Invstr app, where you can play Fantasy Finance and manage a virtual investment portfolio or open a brokerage account and invest for real. Take our interactive investing course on Invstr Academy and become a better investor today!
I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.