Free Republic

The founder of FTX used executives as cut-outs for donations, prosecutors allege... That Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former chief executive of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX that recently filed for bankruptcy, was aggressively using campaign donations as part of a campaign to woo Washington toward his vision of cryptocurrency regulation was no secret — nor was it a secret that other FTX executives quickly became some of the country’s biggest political donors to both Republicans and Democrats, especially those who work on financial regulation. But a new federal criminal indictment alleges that things may have been even simpler than they...

Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison allegedly paid herself millions of dollars in a single bonus payment despite knowing about massive holes in FTX’s finances. Months before FTX filed for bankruptcy, she allegedly moved the money between various accounts until it landed in her own. Crypto exchange FTX spectacularly imploded late last year, dragging Alameda Research, its affiliate trading firm, down with it. Alameda itself was losing huge amounts of money thanks to high-risk bets, with FTX accused of secretly redirecting its users’ funds to its sister firm to help plug its losses. Legal proceedings launched in the wake of FTX’s...

Nishad Singh is third person in founder’s inner circle agreeing to cooperate with federal prosecutors ... The collapse of FTX has set off the largest crypto-related bankruptcy ever ... Singh said that in mid-2022 he learned that Mr. Bankman-Fried’s crypto hedge fund Alameda Research was borrowing FTX customer funds. By September 2022, Alameda was no longer able to repay the billions of dollars that it had taken from FTX, Mr. Singh said. He said that, at the direction of Mr. Bankman-Fried, he falsified FTX’s revenues to make the company more appealing to investors. ... Mr. Singh also pleaded guilty to...