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watch nowFTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday for the massive fraud and conspiracy that doomed his cryptocurrency exchange and a related hedge fund, Alameda Research. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried leaves the U.S. courthouse in New York City on July 26, 2023. Instead, "He's an awkward math nerd" with a "tireless work ethic," said the lawyer, who also compared the FTX founder to "a beautiful puzzle." In this courtroom sketch, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried attends his sentencing hearing at federal court in New York City on March 28, 2024. Barbara Fried and Allan Joseph Bankman, parents of FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, arrive at court in New York on March 28, 2024.

Persons: Sam Bankman, Fried, Lewis Kaplan, Kaplan, FTX, District Judge Lewis Kaplan, Jane Rosenberg, Bankman, convicting, Prosecutors, Amr Alfiky, It's, Marc Mukasey, Torrey Young, Nicolas Roos, scoffed, Roos, Mukasey, Sam, Sunil Kavuri, Damian Williams, Samuel Bankman, " Williams, General Merrick Garland, Joseph Bankman, Barbara Fried, Allan Joseph Bankman, Yuki Iwamura, Caroline Ellison, Nishad Singh, Gary Wang Organizations: Alameda Research, ., U.S, District, Reuters, Republicans, Manhattan U.S, Stanford Law, Bloomberg, Getty, Bankman Locations: Manhattan, New York City, U.S, FTX, Kavuri, New York

☆ Penthouse to prison: Sam Bankman-Fried's journey from crypto king to convicted conman
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-27 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of failed crypto exchange FTX, will head on Thursday to a federal court in downtown Manhattan, where U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan will deliver his sentencing. After a month of personally dabbling in the market, Bankman-Fried launched Alameda Research, named after the California county that housed his first office. The so-called crypto winter of 2022 wiped out hedge funds and lenders across the crypto universe. May of 2022 brought the crash of stablecoin Luna, creating a domino effect that sent crypto prices plunging, devastating other lenders. On Nov. 2, 2022, crypto trade site CoinDesk publicized details of Alameda's balance sheet, which showed $14.6 billion in assets.

Persons: Samuel Bankman, MacKenzie Sigalos, Sam Bankman, Fried, Damian Williams, District Judge Lewis Kaplan, they'd, FTX, Amr Alfiky, Jane Street, Goldman Sachs, stablecoin Luna, Solana, Changpeng Zhao, Binance, Zhao, Jane Rosenberg, he'd, Cromwell, John J, Ray, confidants, — CNBC's Rohan Goswami Organizations: CNBC, Metropolitan Detention, U.S, District, Prosecutors, Reuters, Jane, Alameda Research, Formula, Democratic, Voyager, Alameda, FTX, Industry, Investors, Enron, Securities and Exchange Commission, Stanford University Locations: San Francisco, he's, Brooklyn, Manhattan, U.S, New York City, South Korea, Alameda, California, Miami, Washington, Solana, FTX, New York, Palo Alto , California

☆ Who is former crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-03 | by ( Samantha Delouya | Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

New York (CNN) — Sam Bankman-Fried, once known as a cryptocurrency whiz kid, was found guilty on Thursday for his role in the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX. His entrepreneurial drive didn’t stop there: In 2019, Bankman-Fried co-founded cryptocurrency exchange FTX and became its CEO. In December 2022, Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas after US prosecutors filed criminal charges against him. Jane Rosenberg/ReutersBankman-Fried was found guilty of stealing billions of dollars from accounts belonging to customers of his once-high-flying crypto exchange FTX. Immediately following FTX’s crash, crypto exchange Gemini, which was founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, froze customer redemptions in its lending unit, citing market turmoil.

Persons: — Sam Bankman, FTX, Jane Street, ”, Fried, “, …, ” Sam Bankman, Erika P, Rodriguez, Jane, Caroline Ellison, Binance, Sam Bankman, Danielle Sassoon, District Judge Lewis Kaplan, Jane Rosenberg, Joe Bankman, Barbara Fried, Bankman, Allan Joseph Bankman, Yuki Iwamura, Samuel Bankman, Saul Loeb, ingratiated, Tom Brady, Stephen Curry, Naomi Osaka, Larry David, Cameron, Tyler Winklevoss Organizations: CNN, Jane, Capital, MIT, Alameda Research, Chicago Tribune, Tribune, Service, SoftBank, U.S, District, Reuters, Bloomberg, Royal Bahamas Police Force, Billionaire, Stanford, FTX, Getty, Democratic Party, Federal, Commission, Republican, Agriculture, Nutrition, Forestry, Miami Heat, ”, New Locations: York, Alameda, North Berkeley , California, Nassau, Bahamas, BlackRock, Bankman, Hong Kong, United States, FTT, New York City, U.S, FTX, New York, Washington ,

☆ The $8 billion Sam Bankman-Fried criminal trial starts today — here's what's at stake and how we got here
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +19 min

In the first trial, Bankman-Fried faces seven criminal counts related to the collapse of the crypto empire he built, including wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering. Alameda, FTX and a host of subsidiaries Bankman-Fried founded filed for bankruptcy protection in Delaware. FTX's own terms of use specifically forbade him, or Alameda, from using customer money for anything — unless the customer allowed it. And from FTX's inception, there was a lot of customer money. Bankman-Fried and other executives admitted to each other that "FTX customer funds were irrevocably lost because Alameda had appropriated them."

Persons: Sam Bankman, Fried, Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, Ellison, FTX, Wang, Judge Lewis Kaplan, Samuel Bankman, MacKenzie Sigalos, San Francisco —, SBF, Wang —, Nishad Singh —, Goldman Sachs, Binance, Damian Williams, Rehypothecation, —, Crypto, Solana, Zhao, he'd, Cromwell, John J, Ray, John Ray's, — CNBC's Rohan Goswami Organizations: Alameda Research, Southern, of, Stanford, MIT, U.S, New York Times, Bankman, That's, CNBC, Jane, Capital, University of California, Formula, Democratic, Twitter, Securities Exchange Commission, SEC, Futures Trading, United States Attorney's Office, CFTC, Alameda, Alameda didn't, Voyager, BlockFi, FTX, Industry, Investors, Zhao, Publicly, Sullivan, Enron Locations: Bahamas, Manhattan, New York, Alameda, of New York, FTX, Brooklyn , New York, San Francisco, South Korea, Alameda , California, Fried's Alameda, Berkeley, Miami, Washington, Delaware, California, Federal, Solana, Fried

REUTERS/David 'Dee' Delgado/ Acquire Licensing RightsOct 3 (Reuters) - The global cryptocurrency market remains badly scarred following the tumultuous collapse of crypto exchange FTX and other big players last year, with crypto prices, volumes and venture capital investment well below their 2021 peaks. BITCOIN BLUESBitcoin, by far the biggest cryptocurrency and the chief barometer for crypto market sentiment, has bounced back about 37% since Nov. 1. Reuters Image Acquire Licensing RightsCRUMBLING MARKET CAPAfter peaking at $3 trillion in November 2021, the value of the overall crypto market plummeted through 2022, hitting a two-year low of $796 billion as FTX imploded. Yet the relative calm in crypto markets is not necessarily a good thing, said some market participants, noting that many investors are attracted to crypto precisely because of its volatility, which offers opportunities to make quick profits. Reuters GraphicsVC CRYPTO BETS TUMBLEVenture capital (VC) investments flooded into crypto during its boom year of 2021, and even through 2022.

Persons: Damian Williams, Samuel Bankman, David, Dee, Delgado, Sam Bankman, FTX, cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, bitcoin, Ben Laidler, Usman Ahmad, Anders Kvamme Jensen, Robert Le, CCData, Noelle Acheson, Hannah Lang, Elizabeth Howcroft, Tom Wilson, Michelle Price, Andrea Ricci Organizations: REUTERS, Capital, Silvergate Bank, BlackRock, Reuters, Zodia, Chartered, Reuters Graphics, U.S, Venture, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, New York, Singapore, London, Washington

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried leaked Caroline Ellison's diary to the New York Times to paint her as a 'jilted lover,' prosecutors say
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Prosecutors say Sam Bankman-Fried is trying to discredit Caroline Ellison by leaking her diary entries. Bankman-Fried wants to make her look like a "jilted lover," prosecutors wrote in a court filing. Prosecutors say Bankman-Fried gave "a misleading patina of legitimacy" to an effort to discredit Ellison in the case. "The fact that the defendant funneled this material through the New York Times, rather than directly commenting on the documents himself, is particularly pernicious," prosecutors wrote. The material risked tainting the jury pool and could deter other potential witnesses from testifying at the trial, prosecutors wrote.

Persons: Sam Bankman, Fried, Caroline Ellison, Ellison —, —, Samuel Bankman, — Caroline Ellison, Ellison, Caroline Ellison Tyler Le, Rebecca Zisser, Lewis Kaplan, who's, didn't Organizations: Alameda Research, Prosecutors, New York Times, Times, Google, Federal, US Locations: Manhattan

☆ We just learned the identities of the 2 bail guarantors keeping George Santos out of jail
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

A judge has unsealed the identities of George Santos's mysterious bail sponsors. A third bail guarantor never came forward, a judge wrote. Additional identifying information in the bond documents remains sealed. US Magistrate Judge Anne Shields allowed them to be bail sureties anyway because they "agreed to be personally responsible" for Santos. If anything, Seybert wrote, Santos has drawn even more attention to their identities — giving more reason to make them public.

Persons: George Santos's, They're, Santos's, —, Gercino Antônio dos Santos, Elma Santos Preven, Santos, haven't, Anne Shields, Shields, Joanna Seybert, Davis Wright Tremaine, Ghislaine Maxwell —, Jeffrey Epstein, he'd, Joseph Murray, Seybert, Goldman Sachs, Murray, George Santos, Lokman Vural, Getty Images Murray, you'll, Defendant's, Seth Wenig, Samuel Bankman, Lewis Kaplan, who's, Kaplan, Larry Kramer, Andreas Paepcke, Kramer, Paepcke Organizations: Service, Congressional, US, World Trade Center, Citigroup, Goldman, Baruch College, New York University, Anadolu Agency, Getty Images, AP, Stanford University Locations: New York, Washington, York, Brazil, Central Islip , New York, Central Islip

☆ Who are Larry Kramer and Andreas Paepcke — the two people who paid part of Sam Bankman-Fried's bail?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Sarah Jackson | Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

They are Larry Kramer and Andreas Paepcke, both of whom have ties to Stanford, where SBF's parents work. On Wednesday, unsealed court records identified the FTX founder's bail guarantors as Larry Kramer, a former dean of Stanford Law School, and Andreas Paepcke, a senior research scientist at Stanford. A screenshot of Larry Kramer's bio on a Stanford Law School web page shows that he's emeritus dean of the institution. from the University of Chicago Law School in 1984, according to his Stanford Law bio page. On his personal page, Paepcke listed hobbies including "piano studies and simple composition, worrying, and poetry."

☆ We just learned the names of the 2 people secretly guaranteeing Sam Bankman-Fried's $250 million bond
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Larry Kramer and Andreas Paepcke are the two previously anonymous sponsors of Samuel Bankman-Fried's $250 million bond. A federal judge sided with Insider and other media organizations and made their names public. Larry Kramer, a former dean of Stanford University's law school, contributed $500,000 to the bond, according to court records unsealed Wednesday afternoon. Bankman-Fried's parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, who are both professors at Stanford University's law school, have also contributed to the bond. He also said he had no business interest in the $500,000 he contributed towards Bankman-Fried's bond.

☆ Judge orders Samuel Bankman-Fried to stop using a VPN after his lawyers claim he only used one to watch the Super Bowl
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A judge on Tuesday ordered Bankman-Fried to stop using a VPN. To allay any concerns, however, the attorneys said Bankman-Fried would immediately stop using the VPN. On Tuesday afternoon, Judge Kaplan made that a condition of his bail, adding the use of a VPN to a list of other prohibited internet activities, Reuters reported. Use of a VPN, Kaplan ruled, "presents many of the same challenges." Prosecutors allege that Bankman-Fried used deposits in the cryptocurrency exchange to finance investments placed through Alameda Research, another company he founded.

☆ The criminal case against Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison could put jilted FTX customers in the backseat
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The parallel criminal case against SBF, Caroline Ellison, and Gary Wang may be to blame. But they told a Delaware bankruptcy court recently that they hit a roadblock, accusing Sam Bankman-Fried and those close to him of not playing ball with them. The criminal case takes priorityEllison and Wang separately reached plea deals with federal prosecutors in Manhattan, copping to charges including wire fraud and conspiracy. But, experts told Insider, the deals require them to focus on working with prosecutors in the criminal case — even if it could be at the expense of other parties. But when both criminal and civil proceedings are ongoing, it's the criminal case that goes first in line, Snyder said.

☆ A judge ordered the unsealing of Sam Bankman-Fried's 2 anonymous bail sponsors — but says they have a week to appeal
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A federal judge agreed to unseal the names of Samuel Bankman-Fried's two anonymous bail sponsors. The judge pointed out that the sponsors waded into a highly public criminal case. "The non-parental bail sureties have entered voluntarily into a highly publicized criminal proceeding by signing the individual bonds," Kaplan wrote in his ruling on Monday. According to the rules of their bail agreement, one of those additional sponsors couldn't be a family member, according to court filings. A group of media organizations, including Insider, argued that the public had a right to know who was bankrolling Bankman-Fried's bail.

☆ U.S. prosecutors launch website for Bankman-Fried alleged fraud victims
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Luc Cohen | Thomson Reuters | Reports On The New York Federal Courts. Previously Worked As A Correspondent In Venezuela | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW YORK, Jan 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. government plans to launch a website for victims of FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried's alleged fraud to communicate with law enforcement. In court papers filed on Friday, federal prosecutors in Manhattan asked U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan for permission to use the website to notify victims, rather than contacting each individually. Federal law requires prosecutors to contact possible crime victims to inform them of their rights, including the rights to obtain restitution, be heard in court and be protected from defendants. Kaplan has yet to rule on the request, but the website had gone live by Friday afternoon. Bankman-Fried, 30, has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of wire fraud and conspiracy over November's collapse of FTX.

FTX co-founder Gary Wang and former Alameda Research co-CEO Caroline Ellison both pleaded guilty to federal charges in the Southern District of New York, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a message Wednesday. Wang pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Ellison pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud, two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The SEC alleges that both Ellison and Wang, in their respective roles at Alameda and FTX, abetted Bankman-Fried in allegedly defrauding FTX customers. Ellison, 28, and Wang, 29, become the second and third individuals to be charged in connection with FTX's multibillion-dollar collapse.

☆ Caroline Ellison, ex-Alameda CEO, and FTX cofounder Gary Wang have pleaded guilty to charges and are cooperating with authorities, US attorneys say
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, and FTX cofounder Gary Wang have pleaded guilty to fraud. Both have also agreed to cooperate with the prosecutors, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York said. FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried is being transferred to the US from Bahamas. Ellison and Wang have also agreed to cooperate with the prosecutors, Williams added in a statement. —US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) December 22, 2022The development came just as FTX cofounder Sam Bankman-Fried is set to be extradited to the US on Wednesday night.

There's still not an exact picture of how much Bankman-Fried spent on politics this cycle. But based on what's already public, Bankman-Fried was one of the more prolific campaign donors this cycle, and his spending had a significant effect on midterm races. And his donations to the Protect Our Future super PAC helped shape some key Democratic primaries. The group spent $1.4 million to boost her in her Democratic primary, and then she cruised to victory in the less competitive November general election. Other top racesThe group spent at least $500,000 in support of Democratic candidates in nine other races (parenthesis indicate whether they won the general election, even if the spending happened in the primary):

Bankman-Fried and unnamed co-conspirators made "tens of millions of dollars in illegal campaign contributions" to both Democratic and Republican candidates and campaign committees, Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for Southern New York, said at a news conference unveiling the eight-count criminal indictment, which included a campaign finance violation charge. "And all of this dirty money," Williams said, was used to "buy bipartisan influence and impact the direction of public policy in Washington." FTX boss Sam Bankman-Fried is escorted by police officers as he leaves court in Nassau, Bahamas on Dec. 13, 2022. The indictment alleges he also made illegal contributions through a corporation, which it does not name. Once believed to be a financial wunderkind, Bankman-Fried also faces a host of other charges.

Lawmakers are generally in agreement that crypto firms should have greater regulation, but there are divergent views on how the industry should be regulated. U.S. prosecutors on Tuesday charged FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried with money laundering and fraud, among other violations. "It is time for Congress to make the crypto industry follow the same money-laundering rules as everyone else," U.S. She and Republican Senator Roger Marshall from Kansas earlier announced legislation aimed at closing money laundering loopholes in the crypto industry. Without U.S. regulation, the value of crypto investments could disappear, said hearing witness and American University law professor Hilary Allen.

☆ The SEC has charged Sam Bankman-Fried and accused him of 'orchestrating a massive, years-long fraud'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The SEC on Tuesday said in a complaint it charged Samuel Bankman-Fried with defrauding investors. The SEC accused Bankman-Fried of "orchestrating a massive, years-long fraud." "Sam Bankman-Fried built a house of cards on a foundation of deception," SEC boss Gary Gensler said. In its complaint, the SEC accuses Bankman-Fried of "orchestrating a massive, years-long fraud" by diverting "billions of dollars" of FTX's customer funds for "his own personal benefit and to help grow his crypto empire." The SEC said in its complaint that Bankman-Fried hid this information from equity investors of FTX.

☆ SEC Chair Gary Gensler tees up changes to how the stock market operates
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Bob Pisani | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

These wholesalers may send the orders to exchanges, but often match the orders against their own internal order flow. However, Gensler has claimed that pension funds and other institutional investors are not able to interact with that retail order flow. Execution quality disclosure Market participants are required to submit monthly reports indicating how well they are executing client orders. Gensler has said investors today need a better understanding of how well their trading orders are being executed. Gensler's broad agenda The proposals on market structure are part of a broad agenda Gensler has undertaken this year.

☆ Binance CEO slams Samuel Bankman-Fried's behavior, takes aim at Nouriel Roubini
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Hannah Ward-Glenton | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Binance's Co-founder & CEO Changpeng Zhao has given several interviews discussing the outlook for cryptocurrency following a turbulent couple of weeks in the market. The chief executive of the largest online exchange for cryptocurrency, Binance, criticized the former CEO of bankrupt exchange FTX and took aim at economist Nouriel Roubini. "When he tweets about a sparring partner, his house is burning and all this is happening, he's losing focus. Zhao also added detail about Binance's decision to back out of a deal to rescue rival exchange FTX on Nov. 9. CNBC has contacted FTX and Bankman-Fried for a response to the comments but has not yet received a reply.

☆ From $32 billion to criminal investigations: How Sam Bankman-Fried's empire vanished overnight
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +17 min

Alameda's success spurred the launch of crypto exchange FTX in the spring of 2019. A Twitter fight with the CEO of rival exchange Binance pulled the mask off the scheme. Alameda, FTX and a host of subsidiaries Bankman-Fried founded have filed for bankruptcy protection in Delaware. On Nov. 2, CoinDesk reported a leaked balance sheet showing that a significant amount of Alameda's assets were held in FTX's illiquid FTT token. On Nov. 6, according to Bankman-Fried, the exchange had roughly $5 billion of withdrawals, "the largest by a huge margin."

☆ What Cramer is watching Wednesday — Disney CEO must go, no Red wave, Meta job cuts
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

We looked how Club stocks did a year after the past five midterms. Affirm (AFRM): Many price target cuts and the stock down 12% in the premarket. Morgan Stanley cuts price target to $11.50 per share from $15; keeps underperform (sell) rating. BofA cuts price target to $61 per share from $73. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade.

☆ Crypto PACs backed by Sam Bankman-Fried, Scaramucci plan last-minute midterm ad blitz
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A network of political action committees supported by cryptocurrency industry leaders are planning a last-minute ad campaign in support of congressional candidates, according to one of the groups' chief strategists. Web3 Forward and Crypto Innovation, two super PACs financed by the crypto executives, are both expected to spend at least six figures on an ad blitz starting in two weeks, the strategist explained. During the primary season, Web3 Forward backed Democrats running for Congress, while Crypto Innovation supported Republicans, according to Federal Election Commission records. The spending by the crypto PACs will add to a flurry of cash flowing in what are expected to be the most expensive midterm elections ever. Former Trump White House communications director and SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci donated $100,000 to Crypto Innovation in March, according to an FEC filing.

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