Court Reveals Waste Of Corporate Funds By Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. As the FTX case progresses, it was revealed about Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) who was suspected of wasting company funds. Court filings reviewed details this week SBF spent tens of millions of dollars lavishly on residential accommodations, hotels, food and flights last year.
Reporting from Bitcoin.com, Wednesday, January 11, 2023, records show that around USD 15.4 million or the equivalent of IDR 239.4 billion (assuming an exchange rate of IDR 15,539 per US dollar) was spent on luxury hotels and accommodations.
Most of that money went toward paying for SBF’s $30 million luxury penthouse at the seaside resort of Albany. Then USD 3.6 million or the equivalent of Rp. 56 billion was used to buy hotel rooms at the Grand Hyatt, a four-star hotel.
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Furthermore, as much as USD 800,000 or the equivalent of Rp. 12.4 billion was spent by SBF in Rosewood, for a five-star hotel.
Reports also show Jimmy Buffett’s beach resort, Margaritaville, owes more than USD 55,000 or equivalent to Rp. 855.4 million, because the resort’s management has registered as a creditor in the bankruptcy case.
FTX and Alameda employees reportedly lived in 20 suites for several months last year, paying bills but never paying for Margaritaville accommodations.
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Apart from hotels, luxury suites and luxury apartments, USD 3.9 million or the equivalent of IDR 60.6 billion was spent on flights and private planes. When an FTX employee needed an Amazon package picked up from Miami, they allegedly used a private plane to deliver the boxes to the island.
Other reports say the co-founder was so altruistic that SBF regularly spent more than $2,500 ($2,500) at Nassau bistros for lunch and threw millions at Bahamian politicians and officials before the FTX collapse. Fox News revealed that SBF also owns a multi-million dollar 52-foot yacht.
Previously, the US Government had launched a website for alleged scam victims of cryptocurrency exchange FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried to communicate with law enforcement.
In an order late Friday, January 6, 2023, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan authorized federal prosecutors to use the website, and did not need to contact individual victims.
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“FTX may owe money to more than 1 million people, making it impractical for authorities to contact individual victims,” prosecutors said, quoted from Channel News Asia, Monday (9/1/2023).
Federal law requires prosecutors to contact potential victims of crimes to inform them of their rights, including the right to obtain restitution, be heard in court and be protected from the accused.
Court Reveals Waste Of Corporate Funds By Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. “If you believe you may have been the victim of fraud by Samuel Bankman-Fried, alias SBF, please contact the victim coordinator or witness at the United States Attorney’s office,” the website reads. The website has been active on Friday afternoon.
Bankman-Fried, 30, has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of wire fraud and conspiracy over the November FTX collapse. Prosecutors say he stole billions from FTX customer deposits to pay debts to his hedge fund, Alameda Research, and lied to investors about FTX’s financial condition.
The former billionaire admits to his risk management deficiencies, but says he does not hold himself criminally responsible.
Read Also: US Regulator Launches Site For Complaints Of FTX Victims
Previously, according to onchain research, wallets connected to Sam Bankman-Fried(SBF), co-founder of FTX, transferred a large number of previously unreported transactions across various blockchains.
The transfer was discovered by Conor Grogan, and while most of the transaction occurred on December 28. Despite that, there was some activity recently in the first few days of the new year.
A large number of SBF-linked tokens that are transferred to various blockchains. Movement is happening on blockchains like Polygon, BinanceSmart Chain (BSC), Arbitrum, and Avalanche. The address saw outward movement for coins such as MATIC, AVAX, USDC, USDT, BTCB, WBTC, SPELL, PTP, MDX, and many more.
“The SBF (or someone with access to their wallet) most likely transferred USD 10 million (Rp 156.3 billion) in previously unreported transactions on the Avalanche, BSC, Arbitrum, and Polygon blockchains,” Grogan wrote on Twitter. Bitcoin.com, Friday, January 6, 2023.
Grogan added that there was recent activity between 2 to 3 January 2023 with wallets receiving crypto worth USD 30 million (Rp 469 billion). So the total transfer of funds related to SBF in the last few days was USD 40 million (Rp. 625.4 billion).
“I checked every address linked to SBF and checked other blockchains. The private key for ETH works on other EVM chains,” added Grogan.
In addition to Grogan’s tweet, onchain researcher Ergo tweeted about some FTX-related bitcoin movements on January 4, 2023. According to Ergo this is likely team activity going bankrupt.
Previously, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigated allegations of fraudulent behavior by crypto companies. Currently the FTC is opening investigations into many crypto companies for alleged violations.
A spokesman for the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) declined to name the companies or say exactly what actions prompted the investigation.
“While we cannot comment on current events in the crypto market or details of ongoing investigations, we are currently investigating several companies for possible digital asset-related misconduct,” the spokesperson said in a statement. /1/2023).
Bloomberg said in a report the investigation was related to misleading advertising but an FTC spokesperson declined to confirm this.
The explosion of the FTX collapse case sent a new shock wave through the cryptocurrency industry, which pushed the value of bitcoin sharply lower for 2022.
Court Reveals Waste Of Corporate Funds By Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which also has regulations requiring disclosure from individuals promoting securities, has cracked down on celebrity endorsements, including reality TV star Kim Kardashian for allegedly promoting crypto tokens on her Instagram account without proper disclosure.
The FTC also pursues and takes action against companies that present themselves as cryptocurrency-related companies but are suspected of being nothing more than frauds.
