Violation of bail requirements
FTX founder goes back to prison
08/12/2023 12:41 am
Sam Bankman-Fried lives the life of a financial crime character. He founds the cryptocurrency platform FTX, has to file for bankruptcy after allegations of fraud and is arrested in the Bahamas. After paying bail, he is released. Now he has to be behind bars again.
The founder of the bankrupt cryptocurrency platform FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, has been arrested again on charges of fraud. A federal judge in New York on Friday overturned the 31-year-old’s temporary release on bail, the court said on its website. Prosecutors had argued that Bankman-Fried violated the terms of his bail and influenced witnesses.
FTX and the Alameda Research investment fund, also founded by Bankman-Fried, went bust in November, triggering an earthquake in the crypto world. Once hailed as a crypto prodigy, Bankman-Fried was later arrested in the Bahamas and extradited to the United States. The US judiciary accuses the 31-year-old of fraud, money laundering and violations of campaign finance laws.
He was actually under house arrest with his parents
Bankman-Fried was released from custody in December on $250 million bail. From then on he was under house arrest at his parents’ home in the state of California. Now, New York Judge Lewis Kaplan has ordered Bankman-Fried back behind bars pending trial.
Bankman-Fried had embodied the rise of cryptocurrencies to a supposedly serious investment like no other. However, in early November, the business construct collapsed when it was revealed that FTX was mainly holding its client funds in a specially issued cryptocurrency with no equivalent. On November 11, the company filed for bankruptcy.