FTX Co-Founder Sam Bankman-Fried was accused by US regulators of carrying out a multi-year scheme to defraud investors.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said on Tuesday that Bankman-Fried, who is under arrest in the Bahamas and is facing criminal charges in the US, raised more than $1.8 billion from investors and concealed the extent of the relationship between FTX and his trading firm Alameda Research. The SEC also alleged that he used commingled customer funds.
“We allege that Sam Bankman-Fried built a house of cards on a foundation of deception while telling investors that it was one of the safest buildings in crypto,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a statement.
The founder of one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges has been arrested in the Bahamas weeks after his company collapsed.SBF in custody in the Bahamas. Here's what happens next:
— MacKenzie Sigalos (@KenzieSigalos) December 13, 2022
-indictment expected to remain sealed till Tues AM
-@renato_mariotti says SBF's extradition to US could "take weeks"
-late '23 the "earliest a trial would occur"
-life sentence possible: https://t.co/SKSUL00YZb w/@rogoswami