Update:
Following being extradited from the Bahamas to the U.S. on Wednesday, FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has been released from the Bahamas and extradited to the U.S. to face legal charges resulting from the fallout of FTX. While it was speculated that Bankman-Fried could be sitting in Bahamas prison until early February 2023, U.S. prosecutors appear to feel ambitious about the case they’ve made against him.
Since being extradited to the U.S. on Wednesday, Bankman-Fried has managed to secure at least one small win throughout this process. A New York judge ruled that the 30-year-old crypto billionaire can post a $250M bond, and can stay with his parents in their Palo Alto, California home.
In the U.S., the Justice Department stated that the charges against Bankman-Fried include conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the Federal Election Commission and commit campaign finance violations. However, the Bahamas are also looking to prosecute Bankman-Fried on their own.
While in jail in the Bahamas there were conflicting reports and theories surrounding the quality of the prison that Bankman-Fried was placed in. Upon hearing that Bankman-Fried would be placed in Fox Hill Prison, many looked back to reporting from 2021, when the U.S. State Department found that there were infestations of rats, maggots, and insects. The prison had a reputation for its terrible conditions and unsanitary bathroom requirements.
However, reporting later surfaced that Bankman-Fried may have been receiving the Al Capone treatment during his stay at Fox Hill prison. The New York Post, along with others, reported:
Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was kept away from the general prison population and enjoyed special perks such as air-conditioning and cable TV during his short stint at Fox Hill, according to a report Wednesday.
Bankman-Fried, who agreed to be extradited to the US on Wednesday after eight days at the notorious Bahamas prison, was kept with a handful of other prisoners in the facility’s sick wing, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed prison officials.
He was given his own cot in the rat-and-maggot-infested facility in what the outlet described as a “luxury” compared to other inmates. Bankman-Fried also had access to air-conditioning “from a nearby inspector’s office, as well as running water and a toilet.”
Original Story:
Following the CoinDesk article outlining the company; and possibly equally newsworthy, the top executives of FTX, including their luxurious lifestyles in the Bahamas, sexual lifestyles, and using company funds for luxury goods; Binance CEO Changoeng Zhao announced that Binance would be selling their remaining investments held with the company. Binance is a significant competitor to FTX in the crypto trading market. Binance’s decision to pull their investments hurt FTX enough, however, the decision to announce that they’d be withdrawing from FTX caused many other investors to realize staying with FTX would be a financial disaster. Due to the large pullout, the $30 billion company that’s only 3 years old has dropped like a rock, and the empire appears to be close to worthless at this point
CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is at the center of discussion for many. He donated $10 million in 2020 helping to get Joe Biden elected, and then became Democrats’ second largest doner when he donated $39 million during the 2022 Midterm election cycle towards Democratic candidates and organizations, according to data from Open Secrets, which listed him as the nation’s sixth-largest individual midterm donor, as well as Bidens second-largest donor. It is alleged that the money spent on these candidates, as well as in many other areas of Bankman-Fried’s life, wasn’t his money, instead, it was money that customers of FTX put into the company as an investment. While they assumed a reputable company was assisting them in growing their money throughout the future, instead, FTX was spending it on political donations and living the high life in the Bahamas.
The ten young billionaires are alleged to have not only been at the top of the company, but also have been alleged to have all been in a polyamorous relationship with one another. Quickly, after news broke alleging the polyamorous heads of FTX had a multi-million dollar residence in the Bahamas, all being in a polyamorous relationship, and all regularly taking large amounts of amphetamines, Adderall particularly being alleged; the public opinion of FTX and those at the top of the company began to shift. The once widely known and reputable cryptocurrency trading company crashed in a historic fashion overnight.
FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried used to be worth $26.5 billion according to Forbes at just 30 years of age, until he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on November 11, 2022, where he is estimated to have lost at least $16 billion. Following an article from November issued by CoinDesk, a news publication following cryptocurrency trading, issued a report on FTX.
Attorney Damian Williams broke the news on Monday that FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas. Following Bankman-Fried’s arrest by the Royal Bahamas Police Force after a request from the United States which filed criminal charges against Bankman-Fried, the Bahamas expect the United States to quickly move to extradite the crypto billionaire. Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis said in a statement that they are also looking into Bankman-Fried and FTX’s collapse in an investigation separate from the U.S.’s criminal charges.
As previously reported, Bankman-Fried is being charged with multiple different crimes in the United States, along with violating campaign finance laws, as he was one of the Democrat’s largest donors in their 2020 and 2022 elections. He donated $10 million in 2020 helping to get Joe Biden elected, and then became Democrats’ second largest doner when he donated $39 million during the 2022 Midterm election cycle towards Democratic candidates and organizations, according to data from Open Secrets, which listed him as the nation’s sixth-largest individual midterm donor, as well as Bidens second-largest donor.
However, Bankman-Fried has a new claim about his political donations:
“All my Republican donations were dark,”
“[R]eporters freak the f**k out if you donate to a Republican because they’re all super liberal. And I didn’t want to have that fight, so I just made all the Republican ones dark.”
Bankman-Fried would go on to estimate that he may be around the “second or third biggest” Republican doner.
According to Axios:
The federal indictment unsealed on Tuesday includes eight charges — including one that Bankman-Fried conspired to violate a federal law barring campaign contributions knowingly made in the name of another person. That’s what’s known as a straw donation, and it’s often used to illegally mask the true identity of a political donor by routing his or her contribution through another person or organization. It can also be used by a single donor to circumvent campaign contribution limits by parceling out a large donation among multiple straw donors, or by companies trying to get around corporate donation restrictions by routing money through an individual donor.
So, it’s unclear if Bankman-Fried was attempting to illegally hide his political donators, or if Bankman-Fried was attempting to simply hide his donations from criticism from the media.
As a result of the fallout, many people have their assets in the company frozen, and there are fears that the untrustworthy FTX leadership may have already spent the money. Looking for someone to blame, lawsuits are being filed against the celebrities who have been in advertisements for were endorsed by FTX. Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, along with supermodel ex-wife Gisele Bündchen have both been named in the lawsuit. The former couple appears in a highly successful television commercial for FTX in 2020, when Tom Brady was ending his legendary, and a nearly 20-year-long stint with the New England Patriots and was looking for a new team to continue his career.
Other celebrities listed in the lawsuit includes, and are not limited to, celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary, who assured potential investors and the public that FTX was reputable and reliable, Golden State Warriors point guard Steph Curry, former Boston Redsocks baseball player David Ortiz, basketball legend throughout the early 2000s, Shaquille O’Neal, comedian Larry David, and young second-year quarterback for the Jacksonville JaguarsTrevor Lawrence.
Why does the criminal get to choose whether or not he will be extradited?
Who posted the 250 million bail?
Rumor has it that zelenski posted with money donated by the democratic party
Suing the celebrities who made commercials is insane. They were paid to do a job, had nothing to do with the group of swindlers who should serve their time in the Bahama prison not in a penthouse cell in the US. Oh that’s right they have 50 million to the Democrat party. Why not sue the Dems who took the money or are they going to give it back?
Just 2 of many very fitting sayings….”All that glitters is not gold” and “Let the buyer beware”
Seize his assets & sell his Garage off too
Lock The Bastard Up and Throw Away the Key !