Ex-FTX CEO and co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried received $2.2 billion in payments and loans, mostly from Alameda Research. after on a statement from Wednesday by the new management of the failed exchange.
That number might seem even more remarkable when you compare it to payouts received by other executives, including former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, who received just $6 million.
A total of $3.2 billion was handed over to former FTX employees, documents filed by new management showmost of which come from the company’s sister trading company, Alameda Research.
Alameda was at the center of the FTX drama: the quantitative trading firm, also founded by Bankman-Fried, had the ability to use FTX client funds for its own purposes and without oversight, according to newly appointed FTX CEO John J Ray III.
FTX was a huge digital asset exchange that allowed its clients to buy, sell and bet on the future price of cryptocurrencies. The Bahamas-based company had 134 companies under its umbrella but went bust in November.
It is sudden bankruptcy was due in part to management making risky bets with client funds through Alameda Research, prosecutors allege. Bankman-Fried founded Alameda in 2019 but claims he retired from day-to-day operations at the retail company in 2021.
This week’s documents show that Bankman-Fried — better known as SBF — received the bulk of the $3.2 billion in payouts reported by FTX’s new management, while the company’s former chief technical officer, Nishad Singh , $587 million and co-founder Gary Wang $246 million.
Former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame received $87 million and former Alameda Research co-head Sam Trabucco $25 million, the announcement said – adding that the not including more than $240 million spent buying luxury homes in the Bahamas.
It’s worth noting that Trabucco resigned as CEO of Alameda in August and hasn’t heard from him publicly since. Authorities, unlike the rest of Bankman-Fried’s inner circle, have yet to announce charges against the former manager.
SBF is opposite now 12 criminal charges in the United States. Some of these charges were filed in a substitute indictment last month and include conspiracy to defraud FTX clients in connection with the purchase and sale of derivatives and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
In January Bankman Fried pleaded not guilty on the original charges and is now awaiting a trial, which is scheduled for October.
Ellison, Wang and Singh all have it authorized Fraud and cooperate with investigators.
Ellison, who was romantically involved with Bankman-Fried, was named co-CEO of Alameda along with Trabucco in October 2021. She assumed the role of sole CEO after Trabucco resigned. Ellison rose to fame after FTX collapsed after a Bizarre tumblr blog connected to the executive branch, emerged and revealed a strong fascination with polyamory and racial science on the part of the author, presumably Ellison.
Meanwhile, billions of dollars in FTX client funds are currently missing – with a large amount believed to have been stolen.
John J. Ray III, who is responsible for weeding out failed companies, did called that the sudden collapse of the crypto firm was caused by “a very small group of grossly inexperienced and unskilled individuals.”
The SBF spokesman declined decrypt‘s request for comment.
Source : finance.yahoo.com