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In November of 2022, Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX was suddenly plunged into bankruptcy due to insolvency. Billions of dollars worth of customer assets had been spirited away into a variety of different investments, lost in hacks, and scattered between poorly accounted for digital wallets. Several executives would eventually plead guilty to crimes related to this enterprise, and CEO Bankman-Fried would be sentenced to 25 years in prison. In the process of Bankman-Fried’s sentencing, the prosecution filed a document that Bankman-Fried created shortly after the collapse of FTX. The header for the document tells us, “Note: these are all random probably bad ideas that aren’t vetted; CONFIDENTIAL.” Further down, we see Bankman-Fried was already plotting a comeback, with one idea being “Tucker Carlsen [sic], come out as republican.” The sub-notes related to this idea suggest that Bankman-Fried would support this by focusing on the donations...

Galois Capital Management, which famously shorted the Terra system before its collapse, has settled charges with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) related to the fact that it held assets at failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX.  Galois’ settlement does not involve it admitting the allegations contained in the SEC order. Specifically that Galois “held certain crypto assets that were offered and sold as securities” that “were not maintained with a qualified custodian.” It’s not clear which crypto assets were considered securities by the SEC in this case. Galois ended up losing access to “approximately half of the fund’s assets under management” when FTX closed withdrawals.  The SEC stated that this was in violation of the Investment Advisors Act. Read more: Which FTX and Alameda executives are going to prison and when? Additionally, it alleges that Galois allowed some investors to redeem more quickly than t...

A former FTX executive who was head of the exchange’s European operation when it collapsed in 2022 has reportedly purchased a gold pocket watch worn by property tycoon John Jacob Astor IV when he was killed in the sinking of the RMS Titanic in April 1912.  According to The Wall Street Journal, former head of FTX Europe Patrick Gruhn paid £1.175 million (roughly $1.5 million) for the watch at the Henry Aldridge & Son auction. This is the highest price ever paid for a piece of Titanic memorabilia. Astor, who was the richest passenger aboard the doomed liner with an estimated fortune of around $90 million — equivalent to several billion dollars today — was apparently last seen smoking a cigarette and chatting to his fellow passenger s as the ship sank after striking an iceberg in the North Atlantic. His body, along with the 14-carat gold Waltham pocket watch , was recovered a week later. Astor’s gold watch engraved with his initials pictured on Henry Ald...

The most widely publicized news from the crypto industry this year was the collapse of FTX. Once the world’s second-largest crypto exchange valued at $32 billion, Sam Bankman-Fried’s exchange declared bankruptcy in November 2022. Google search queries for FTX increased 50-fold after it declared bankruptcy. Five of its executives have pleaded guilty to federal crimes in US courts. Shortly prior to its downfall, CZ at Binance publicly disparaged FTX and dumped Binance’s holdings of FTX’s proprietary token, FTT. The situation was bad enough that UK politicians asked Binance if it knew its announcements would topple Sam Bankman-Fried’s empire. Quickly, John J. Ray III’s team, which oversaw the bankruptcy wind-down of Enron, took over FTX’s halted operations. They have unearthed the horrible, fraudulent reality of FTX’s operations – including stolen billions from customers. Indeed, so much has happened with FTX since its implosion that the fallen leader is worth revisiting, here at t...

Explore the comprehensive breakdown of what happened to FTX in 2023: from Sam Bankman-Fried going to jail to his ex-girlfriend’s confessions. The crypto industry has always been filled with captivating stories of massive success, overnight failures, notorious scams, and overwhelming frauds. However, very few stories have impacted the world of cryptocurrency and finance as much as the dramatic rise and fall of FTX. The FTX saga was unveiled under the leadership of Sam Bankman-Fried, a young entrepreneur who rapidly ascended to the upper echelons of the crypto world. It is a tale of ambition, innovation, and a catastrophic downfall. In this article, we’ll explore the intriguing details of the FTX fraud, from its meteoric rise to its ultimate failure, resulting in the criminal conviction of Sam Bankman-Fried.  FTX’s rise and prominence Bankman-Fried’s journey in the crypto world began with establishing Alameda Research in 2017, a quantitative trading firm. His successful ...

Former SEC Chief of Office of Internet Enforcement John Reed Stark believes a federal court could ultimately convict the FTX founder of several criminal charges, including fraud, due to three factors. Witness testimony from former executives, damning evidence enshrined in FTX records, and Sam Bankman-Fried’s post-bankruptcy media tour will likely sway the court’s verdict in favor of prosecutors, said Stark on Oct. 2. Indeed, figures like Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, and Nishad Singh have pled guilty in the FTX case. It is also widely believed that the Justice Department would call Ellison and other parties to testify against Bankman-Fried. Prosecutors also filed court documents to admit witness testimony from offshore and non-U.S. FTX users. The Three Unique Reasons Why Sam Bankman-Fried Will Likely Be Convicted 1. More Rats Than Both Willard Movies Combined. The SBF prosecution team will call to testify an incredibly broad array of senior corporate insiders, all of whom have p...

Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO and founder of now-defunct crypto exchange FTX, has reportedly pleaded not guilty to fraud and money laundering charges in a court hearing on Aug. 22. Sam Bankman Fried, the former CEO and co-founder of FTX crypto exchange, has pleaded not guilty to fraud and money laundering charges levied in an updated indictment by prosecutors, according to a report.  Bankman Fried appeared in the Southern District of New York courthouse on Aug. 22 facing accusations of misusing customer funds for personal use as well as for political donations. The charges of fraud and money laundering are from December, however, prosecutors added additional charges of campaig finance earlier this month. The latest proceedings in the FTX lawsuit come after Bankman Fried's bail was revoked and the FTX founder left the New York courtroom in handcuffs. This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available. Source: https://thebittimes.c...

Join us as we discuss some simple trading strategies to help you navigate the crypto space in a post-FTX world. In this week’s episode of Market Talks, Cointelegraph welcomes Brenda Gentry, or as she’s known on Twitter, Cryptomom. Gentry has over 15 years of experience in traditional banking. She started researching and investing in cryptocurrencies during the 2020 lockdowns and made substantial returns in 2021 after which she launched Gentry Media Productions. She is currently on a mission to introduce more women and minorities to Web3, decentralized finance (DeFi) and nonfungible tokens (NFTs). We kick things off with a report from the Bank of International Settlements, which found that the median retail investor lost 50% of their Bitcoin (BTC) investment in the past seven years. We ask Gentry what her thoughts are on this, given her background in finance, and also what are some ways that crypto investors can avoid becoming part of this statistic. Sports betting is all the rage now,...

The lawyer’s didn’t specify the date or time at which the incident took place, and claimed the security personnel were unable to get the license plate details. Three men reportedly drove their car into the metal barricade outside Sam Bankman-Fried’s parent’s home where he is currently under house arrest, SBF’s lawyers claim. In a filing to the federal court, the lawyers for the former FTX CEO said the three men got out of the car after hitting the barricade and told a security guard guarding the home: “You won’t be able to stop us.” The unidentified trio were then able to drive away before security guards could record the car’s license plate. According to a Reuters report, the incident was described in a Jan. 19 court filing which they said underscored the security risks faced by the FTX founder and those linked to him, including the two individuals who secured Bankman-Fried’s $250 million bond, stating: “Given the notoriety of this case and the extraordinary media attention it is ...

According to recent filings, BlockFi executives’ share interests were wiped out by an FTX loan from last year. The losses come to a total of $800 million . Following the crypto crash in the summer of 2022, FTX extended a $400 million loan offer to BlockFi. On November 11, FTX filed for bankruptcy, sending shockwaves through the industry. Thirteen of BlockFi’s top executives were affected by the June deal. Zac Prince, founder and CEO, lost $413 million in equity value. However, Prince received a pay raise of between $250,000 and $400,000 as compensation. Others, meanwhile, reportedly received increased offers of up to $560,000, according to the documents. Attorneys for BlockFi have emphasized that there were no last-minute withdrawals by key executives from the firm before its collapse. According to the filing, no member of the BlockFi management team took any crypto out of the system after October 14th. The team’s share of the $7.7 billion re...