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FTX is suing the parents of Sam Bankman-Fried, claiming they enriched themselves by embezzling millions of dollars from a cryptocurrency exchange founded by their son.
In a court filing late Monday, FTX debtors said Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, tenured professors at Stanford Law School, used their influence to move the company The funds are transferred to their favorite charity.
They allege that tax attorney Bankman also used FTX funds to give generous gifts to his friends and family, including flights and tickets to the French F1 Grand Prix.
Fried used her influence to secure millions of dollars in donations from Bankman-Fried and an associate at Mind the Gap, the so-called super PAC she co-founded. Designed to help the Democratic Party win in the 2020 US election cycle. The debtor alleges that she further pressured “certain FTX insiders to illegally circumvent, if not violate, federal campaign finance laws by circumventing disclosure requirements.”
Bankman-Fried, who was arrested in December last year after FTX collapsed due to a multi-billion-dollar hole in its balance sheet, had previously claimed that his parents were “not involved in any relevant part of the business”. They have not been charged with a crime.
But lawyers for the FTX debtors said the fact was that “Bonkman and Fried were involved in the FTX Group from its inception to its collapse.”
“Back in 2018, Bankman described Alameda as a ‘family business’ – a term he used multiple times to refer to FTX Group,” they added. Alameda Research is an affiliated hedge fund of FTX.
The debtors allege that despite FTX’s rapid descent into bankruptcy last year, Bankman and Fried “discussed with Bankman-Fried the transfer of a $10 million cash gift and a $16.4 million luxury property in the Bahamas to them.”
Spokespeople for Bankman and Fried did not respond to requests for comment.
Bankman-Fried is currently incarcerated awaiting trial in October on multiple criminal charges. Earlier this month, Ryan Salame, a former FTX executive who became a huge Republican donor in the 2022 midterm elections, pleaded guilty to conspiring to make illegal political contributions and conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transfer business.
He becomes the fourth member of Bankman-Fried’s inner circle to plead guilty following the guilty pleas of Gary Wang, Caroline Ellison and Nishad Singh. Member of the prosecutor’s agreement.
While prosecutors have so far not brought charges against Bankman-Fried’s parents, the FTX debtors claim they “either knew — or ignored red flags that exposed — their son.” . and other FTX insiders were orchestrating a massive fraud scheme.”
Svlook