DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ How Sam Bankman-Fried's ex-girlfriend and early recruit helped put the FTX founder behind bars for 25 years
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

Yuki Iwamura | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesIn sentencing FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried to a 25-year prison sentence on Thursday, Judge Lewis Kaplan cited testimony from Caroline Ellison, an ex-girlfriend of the defendant and early recruit into his crypto enterprise. In a Google document from February 2022 shared with the Times, Ellison wrote, "I have been feeling pretty unhappy and overwhelmed with my job. The government presented a series of Signal exchanges involving Bankman-Fried, Ellison, Wang and other top execs. Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards Prosecutors relied heavily on text messages sent among FTX and Alameda Research executives in the case against Sam Bankman-Fried. Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards Prosecutors relied heavily on text messages sent among FTX and Alameda Research executives in the case against Sam Bankman-Fried.

Persons: Caroline Ellison, Yuki Iwamura, FTX, Sam Bankman, Judge Lewis Kaplan, Kaplan, Ellison, FTX spiraled, Damian Williams, she's, Fried, District Judge Lewis Kaplan, Jane Rosenberg, SBF Ellison, She'd, Michael Lewis, Caroline, Sam, Lewis, Nishad Singh, Gary Wang, Attorney Thane Rehn, Bankman, Binance, Sam Trabucco, Danielle Sassoon, Wang, SDNY Ellison, Um Organizations: Alameda Research, Bloomberg, Getty, Department of Justice, Manhattan U.S, U.S, District, Federal Court, Reuters, Jane, Stanford, Alameda, The New York Times, Times, Attorney, Google, Alameda's Locations: New York, Manhattan, FTX, New York City, Fried, California, Hong Kong, Bahamas, Alameda

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried's ex-friends and top lieutenants all demolished his criminal defense from the witness stand
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-21 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Sam Bankman-Fried's defense attorneys have argued that FTX's collapse is complicated and he didn't know everything. AdvertisementAdvertisementDuring opening statements at Sam Bankman-Fried's trial, it quickly became clear that prosecutors and his defense attorneys had very different approaches. But Bankman-Fried's attorneys may convince jurors that Bankman-Fried genuinely believed his actions were acceptable in the wild-west cryptocurrency industry. The challenge for Bankman-Fried's attorneys is to convince jurors that he didn't know about any wrongdoing. "Sam directed me to," Ellison testified.

Persons: Sam Bankman, They've, —, — Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, Nishad Singh —, Thane Rehn, Rehn, Mark Cohen, Ellison, Cohen, FTX, Crypto, it's, Sam Bankman Fried, Craig Ruttle, Sarah Krissoff, Cozen O'Connor, Fried, Krissoff, Singh, Wang, Paul Tuchmann, Wiggin, Dana, Sam, Caroline Ellison, Eduardo Munoz Alvarez, Gary, Sun, He's Organizations: Service, Prosecutors, Alameda Research, Alameda Locations: Manhattan, Washington, Bankman, Alameda, New York, FTX, Bahamas

☆ SBF’s ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison takes the stand as government’s star witness
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-10 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Ellison, who ran FTX's sister hedge fund Alameda Research, pleaded guilty in December 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. Ellison also spent years as Bankman-Fried's on-again, off-again girlfriend and, at times, his roommate. Caroline Ellison, former chief executive officer of Alameda Research LLC, center, arrives at court in New York, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023. Noticeably absent thus far in proceedings is the mention of Ellison's co-CEO Sam Trabucco, who was a classmate of Bankman-Fried at MIT. Lawyers for the U.S. Attorney's office entered into evidence photos featuring Sam Bankman-Fried and his fellow co-workers at their shared $35 million Bahamian penthouse.

Persons: Caroline Ellison, Sam Bankman, Ellison, Gary Wang —, Fried, Yuki Iwamura, Attorney Thane Rehn, Rehn, Mark Cohen, Ellison's, Sam Trabucco, Trabucco Organizations: Alameda Research, Stanford, Jane Capital, Alameda, Bloomberg, Getty, Attorney, MIT, U.S Locations: Manhattan, Alameda, San Francisco Bay, New York, FTX

Sam Bankman-Fried watches as Assistant U.S. Attorney Thane Rehn makes his opening remark in Bankman-Fried's fraud trial over the collapse of FTX, the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, at Federal Court in New York City, U.S., October 4, 2023 in this courtroom sketch. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNEW YORK, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Sam Bankman-Fried's fraud trial kicked off this week, nearly a year after the FTX cryptocurrency exchange he founded declared bankruptcy in a collapse that shocked markets and left the 31-year-old wunderkind's reputation in tatters. Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to charges of stealing billions of dollars in customer funds to prop up his crypto-focused hedge fund, Alameda Research. "Sam and his colleagues were building the plane as they were flying it," Cohen said in his opening statement on Wednesday. "The conversation began with me bringing up the large debt owed by Alameda to FTX and asking something like, 'are things OK?'"

Persons: Sam Bankman, Attorney Thane Rehn, Jane Rosenberg, Fried, Rehn, Mark Cohen, Sam, Cohen, Adam Yedidia, Fried's, Yedidia, Matt Huang, Huang, Gary Huang, Wang, Luc Cohen, Matthew Lewis Organizations: U.S, Attorney, Federal Court, REUTERS, Alameda Research, Manhattan U.S, ALAMEDA, Paradigm, Thomson Locations: Bankman, FTX, New York City, U.S, Thane, Alameda, New York

In his opening statement, Rehn said Bankman-Fried used more than $10 billion in FTX customer funds to amass his own wealth, power and influence. But Rehn said FTX collapsed because of Bankman-Fried's plundering of FTX customer cash. According to prosecutors, Bankman-Fried installed Ellison, his sometime romantic partner, as a "front" to lead Alameda in 2021. "In reality he was still calling the shots at Alameda," Rehn said. But Bankman-Fried's lawyer said that handing over the reins was normal as FTX grew and took up his time.

Persons: Sam Bankman, Attorney Thane Rehn, Jane Rosenberg REFILE, Fried, Thane Rehn, Mark Cohen, Rehn, Cohen, Zhao, FTX, duping, Caroline Ellison, Ellison, Jody Godoy, Luc Cohen, Amy Stevens, Matthew Lewis Organizations: U.S, Attorney, Federal Court, REUTERS, Alameda Research, Alameda, Bankman, Thomson Locations: Bankman, FTX, New York City, U.S, Bahamas, Alameda, New York

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire was ‘built on lies,’ US prosecutor says
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-04 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —In their opening statements to a newly sworn-in jury in Manhattan federal court, lawyers laid out previews of their cases, offering two divergent narratives for the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire. The US government has charged Bankman-Fried with multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy, following the implosion of his crypto-trading platform, FTX, last year. But as his own lawyer, Mark Cohen, stepped up to speak, Bankman-Fried’s demeanor softened and his focus shifted to the jury box. “Sam didn’t defraud anyone,” he told jurors, arguing that his client acted in good faith throughout the rise and fall of his startups. Legal experts say Bankman-Fried’s lawyers have their work cut out for them.

Persons: Sam Bankman, Thane Rehn, ” Rehn, Fried, “, ”, Elizabeth Williams, Rehn, Mark Cohen, Cohen, Sam didn’t, Sam, ” Cohen, FTX’s, FTX, “ It’s Organizations: New, New York CNN, Prosecutors Locations: New York, Manhattan, Bahamas

Sam Bankman-Fried Trial appears at Federal Court in New York on Oct. 4th, 2023. Two years later, Julliard stood as the prosecution's first witness in the criminal fraud trial against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who's accused of misusing billions of dollars in client money. He and thousands of other FTX customers were practically wiped out when the exchange went belly up late last year. Allan Joseph Bankman, father of FTX Co-Founder Sam Bankman-Fried, and Barbara Fried, mother of FTX Co-Founder Sam Bankman-Fried, arrive at court in New York, US, on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023. WATCH: Sam Bankman-Fried criminal trial begins in New York

Persons: Sam Bankman, Claudia Johnson Marc, Antoine Julliard, Julliard, who's, FTX, Gisele Bündchen, Fried, Jane Rosenberg, Sam, Mark Cohen, Cohen, Attorney Thane, Rehn, Alameda's, Caroline Ellison, Allan Joseph Bankman, Barbara Fried, Stephanie Keith, Ellison's, Sam Trabucco, Trabucco, Rein, Adam Yedidia, Bankman, Yedida, hadn't, Gary Wang Organizations: Court, FTX, Federal Court, Reuters Defense, Alameda Research, Bankman, Assistant U.S, Attorney, Capitol, U.S, Bloomberg, Getty, MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Prosecutors Locations: New York, London, Manhattan, FTX, New York City, U.S, Alameda, Attorney Thane Rehn, Rehn

Sam Bankman-Fried's lawyer tried to blame Caroline Ellison for FTX's collapse during opening statements. AdvertisementAdvertisementSam Bankman-Fried's defense attorney, Mark Cohen, took aim at the FTX cofounder's ex-girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, during his opening statements in the criminal trial over the collapse of FTX on Wednesday. Bankman-Fried is on trial in Manhattan federal court on charges that he defrauded FTX customers and investors out of billions of dollars. AdvertisementAdvertisementMeanwhile, prosecutor Thane Rehn told the jury that Bankman-Fried stole more than $10 billion from FTX customers, all while telling customers they could access their money at any time. "When customers put money in FTX, he stole it.

Persons: Sam Bankman, Caroline Ellison, —, Mark Cohen, Cohen, Fried, Ellison, Ellison didn't, What's, who'd, Thane Rehn, Rehn Organizations: Service, Alameda Research, New York Times, Reuters Locations: FTX, Alameda, Manhattan

But FTX had asserted the opposite in an online post about a car race it sponsored in Miami Beach, Florida, six months before its November 2022 collapse. loadingAt Bankman-Fried's trial on Wednesday, prosecutors played for the jury FTX video advertisements in which a narrator said, "we're inviting everyone in," as well as spots featuring NFL quarterback Tom Brady and comedian Larry David. Bankman-Fried, 31, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of fraud and five counts of conspiracy over the collapse of FTX. Mark Cohen, Bankman-Fried's lawyer, said his client never intended to steal funds. "But on the other hand, many factors that nobody controlled could make crypto go up and down in value.

Persons: Sam Bankman, Mark Cohen, Jane Rosenberg, FTX, Shaquille O'Neal, Tom Brady, Larry David, Bankman, Prosecutors, cryptocurrency, Thane Rehn, Fried, Rehn, Cohen, O'Neal, Brady, David, Luc Cohen, Jody Godoy, Amy Stevens, Matthew Lewis Organizations: Federal Court, REUTERS, Twitter, Miami Heat, Thomson Locations: Bankman, FTX, New York City, U.S, Miami Beach , Florida, New York

Search resuls for: "Thane Rehn"

9 mentions found