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Sam Bankman-Fried's defense has filed a collection of letters from interested parties on Tuesday asking for leniency for the former FTX CEO - who is being sentenced this week. A friend of his from his MIT days said 'vegan' Bankman-Fried would be 'an asset to society' if given a lenient sentence, in the new court documents. 'Sam felt deeply for every living being, farm animals included - so much so that he adhered to a vegan diet and convinced several others in our living group to become vegan, too. He took every actionable step he could to reduce suffering,' the...

Critics are accusing the DOJ of sweeping additional charges against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried under the rug, after prosecutors said he would not face a second trial for campaign finance violations following his conviction last month. In a letter filed on Friday night in federal court in Manhattan, prosecutors said the 'strong public interest' in a prompt resolution of the case outweighed the benefits of a second trial. In his letter to the court, US Attorney Damian Williams noted that prosecutors introduced evidence about all of the dropped charges during Bankman-Fried's monthlong first trial, where he was found guilty on...

Hundreds of protesters demanding a cease-fire in Gaza swarmed Philadelphia's 30th Street Station this evening... An Iraqi military source tells Russia's RIA Novosti Agency that two drones attacked a US military base in northern Iraq... Crypto-currency financier Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty by a federal jury... There's been an almost unanimous vote in the United Nations General Assembly calling for the US to end its embargo on Cuba... The US House approving an aid package for Israel... US politics new polling from "The Messenger/HarrisX" showing President Trump winning a two-way or a four-way contest.... Tucker Carlson visiting Wikileaks founder Julian Assange...

The monthlong trial of Sam Bankman-Fried wrapped up on Thursday, leaving the jury to decide the fate of the FTX founder. Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to criminal fraud charges tied to the collapse late late year of crypto exchange FTX and sister hedge fund Alameda Research. The prosecution’s key witnesses were former members of Bankman-Fried’s inner circle. A jury has found Sam Bankman-Fried guilty of all seven criminal counts against him. The former FTX CEO faces a maximum sentence of 115 years in prison. Bankman-Fried, the 31-year old son of two Stanford legal scholars and graduate of Massachusetts Institute of...

Recent investigations have unearthed disconcerting activities between Arabella Advisors, a consulting firm, and the Democratic Party, casting a dark shadow over the latter's financial integrity Recent investigations have unearthed disconcerting activities between Arabella Advisors, a consulting firm, and the Democratic Party, casting a dark shadow over the latter's financial integrity. This connection has caused ripples of concern regarding undisclosed financial influences in our democratic processes. Let’s break down exactly what's going on. What is Arabella Advisors? Arabella Advisors is a consultancy firm, but it isn't just any firm. This company seemingly wields control over a vast multibillion-dollar network of "dark...

Longtime Stanford University professors Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried — the parents of Sam Bankman-Fried — were sued by the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency company FTX on Monday. In the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Delaware, the couple is accused of using FTX funds to enrich themselves and give to their “pet causes,” including millions of dollars in donations to Stanford. The lawsuit alleges that both Bankman and Fried “fraudulently transferred and misappropriated” tens of millions of dollars in total from FTX. They were also given a 30,000-square-foot $16.4 million home in the Bahamas and a $10 million cash gift by...

Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty Tuesday to an amended indictment alleging fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges, appearing in court for the first time since his bail was revoked and he was sent to a Brooklyn jail to await trial. Lawyers for the former crypto billionaire, who is vegan, said the detention center is not accommodating his diet and failing to regularly dispense his prescription Adderall. “He’s literally now subsisting on bread and water, which are the only things he’s served that he can eat, and sometimes peanut butter,” his attorney, Mark Cohen, told the court. Magistrate Judge Netburn said...

On Monday, prosecutors charged disgraced former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried with seven counts of fraud and money laundering, alleging he had stolen over $100 million in customer funds to make contributions to political campaigns. Bankman-Fried was originally indicted for conspiracy to make unlawful campaign contributions in 2022, however, prosecutors dropped that charge in order to ensure the Bahamas allowed for his extradition back to the United States. The superseding indictment stays true to that agreement, and does not include that charge. According to Reuters, the US Attorney's Office in Manhattan filed a superseding indictment on Monday evening, accusing him of...

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sent to jail Friday to await trial after a bail hearing for the fallen cryptocurrency wiz left a judge convinced that he had repeatedly tried to influence witnesses against him. U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ordered Bankman-Fried’s bail revoked after prosecutors said he’d tried to harass a key witness in his fraud case last month when he showed a journalist her private writings and in January when he reached out to the general counsel for FTX with an encrypted communication. His lawyers insisted he shouldn’t be jailed for trying to protect his reputation against...

Crypto giant FTX went bankrupt last year, the company losing billions of dollars overnight. FTX owner Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) was the second biggest donor to Democrats in the 2022 midterms. In early January Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to all 8 counts related to the collapse of his crypto Ponzi scheme. SBF pleaded not guilty in New York federal court Tuesday to eight charges related to the collapse of his former crypto exchange FTX and hedge fund Alameda Research. SBF was indicted on eight counts, including charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud, individual charges of securities...

It is possible that Sam Bankman-Fried's defense team, via SBF speaking openly to the press, is establishing diminished capacity in an updated version of the “Twinkie defense” to keep him out of prison. Read my thoughts here: Can SBF Avoid Prison via Twinkie Defense 2.0?

In a court filing, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried asked to redact the names of the co-signers to his $250 million bail. The filing said the U.S. government has not taken a position on the request and that it's being done to protect the privacy and safety of the sureties. The filing said the two remaining sureties have yet to sign their individual bonds, the amounts of which have not yet been determined, but plan to do so by the Thursday deadline. "In recent weeks, Mr. Bankman-Fried's parents have become the target of intense media scrutiny, harassment, and threats.

Data negates the possibility of liquidators behind the fund transfers due to the use of mixing tools and extensive planning to hide transaction paths. 30 cryptocurrency wallets linked to Alameda Research, the bankrupt sister company of crypto exchange FTX, became active on Dec. 28 following four weeks of inactivity. These wallets swapped and mixed over $1.7 million worth of crypto assets through various crypto-mixing services. As Cointelegraph reported on Dec. 28, the sudden movement of funds from Alameda wallets just days after Sam Bankman Fried was released on bail raised suspicions across the crypto community. Nearly 24 hours later, it...

Sam Bankman-Fried, the man at the center of the FTX scandal, is back on US soil after having been extradited from the Bahamas to face federal charges. Naturally, because our justice system is about as coherent as a two-year-old quoting Shakespeare, the notorious fraudster was immediately granted bail and is now spending the holidays with his family. The American oligarchy is alive and well.But I digress, there’s a lot more to the FTX scandal than just Bankman-Fried’s fate, and one of the more interesting aspects of the entire ordeal is just how close many Democrats were to him. In fact,...

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One of the great ironies of the Sam Bankman-Fried debacle is that while SBF was a generous donor to Democrats (and a few RINOs) and President Biden, it was Biden’s green energy policies that were part of the nail in SBF’s crypto empire. As inflation exploded upon Biden taking office (and massive overspending by Congress), The Federal Reserve jumped in to cool inflation leading to the downfall of cryptos in terms of price. M2 Money YoY (green line) shows the massive growth money with the Covid economic shutdowns in 2020. Cryptos skyrocketed after that much money was printed by The...

Despite Sam Bankman-Fried being a no-show — he’s busy fighting extradition to the United States after being criminally charged with fraud — there still were some fireworks at today’s FTX hearing in front of the House Financial Services Committee. You’re pretty much guaranteed a fun sound bite — or whacky video clip — when Maxine Waters, outgoing chair of the committee, is involved and today was no different. Current FTX CEO, John Ray, who’s trying to clean up the mess left behind by SBF, did appear before the committee today and testified that “FTX commingled customer funds with the FTX...

A US State Department study on the prison found that it was infested with rats and maggots while due to low staff numbers, the inmates were only allowed out of their cells for 30 minutes a week. One section of the study reads: 'Many cells also lacked running water, and in those cells, inmates removed human waste by bucket.'It continued: 'Sanitation was a general problem, with cells infested with rats, maggots and insects. Ventilation was also a general problem. Prisoners in maximum security had access to sanitary facilities only one hour a day and used slop buckets as toilets.'Another section...

The sad truth is that the ‘campaign contributions’ (bribe money) are likely far in excess of tens of millions… Regardless, prosecutors are claiming that FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried made millions in ‘illegal’ campaign contributions—this is aside from the money transparently given mostly to Democrats. SBF gave money to both sides of the political establishment; however, reports indicate that he was a Democrat mega-donor. His recent arrest has prompted many to wonder if the establishment is attempting to keep him from Congressional questioning via testimony he agreed to give.

First, Sam Bankman-Fried agreed to testify in the House Financial Services Committee meeting on December 13, 2021. Then Bankman-Fried said he would testify remotely. Then ,,, he was arrested by the Bahama’s police. How convenient! Does this mean that SBF will testify from behind closed doors? According to Reuters, FTX’s Bankman-Fried says he will testify remotely at congressional hearing. WASHINGTON, Dec 12 (Reuters) – Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, on Monday said he would testify remotely at Tuesday’s U.S. House Financial Services Committee hearing to examine the collapse of the company. FTX filed...