Sam Bankman Fried on the spot: first hearing today

The showdown begins today, which will finally see Sam Bankman Fried before a judge, in Manhattan court, to stand trial in the FTX case. 

Without a doubt, the collapse of the FTX exchange platform was one of the most significant events of late 2022 in the crypto world, and today, 3 January, begins the trial that may give justice to all FTX customers who lost their investments. 

There are still many unanswered questions, despite the fact that many days have already passed since that 11 November, many issues are still shrouded in mystery and this is the right chance to find out more. 

In December, Sam Bankman Fried accepted extradition to the US, after being remanded in custody, he agreed to pay an exorbitant bail of as much as $250 million that allowed him to live on probation.

Unlike his former executives Gary Wang and Caroline Ellison, who have pleaded guilty and are now cooperating with authorities, SBF apparently wants to plead not guilty and continue the trial. But as we know, the US legal system will allow him, at any time SBF wants, to change his status from not guilty to guilty. 

Just days before the first hearing, Sam Bankman Fried returned to Twitter

After spotting strange fund transfers from Alameda Research’s wallets, Twitter’s crypto community immediately considered charging the founder and former CEO of FTX, who had just been released on bail. 

This event sparked much amazement among users concerned about the matter, so much so that it saw a surprising return to clarify the matter by Sam Bankman Fried on Twitter. 

Apparently, it was investigators who identified transactions in Alameda’s wallets involving various amounts of ERC-20 tokens, with ETH and USD, the tokens being traded through decentralized exchanges such as FixedFloat and ChangeNow.

The speculation that Sam Bankman Fried had a hand in this, was quickly adopted by anyone with knowledge of the affair, but the former CEO and founder of FTX and Alameda Research denied it all via tweet, also explaining his theory:

“I think it is likely that FTX auditors will have the ability to access these funds; and hopefully that is what is happening. If not, it is to be hoped that someone will take action soon. If anyone wishes, I would be happy to help advise the regulators on this issue.”

Bankman Fried’s justification seems more than plausible, considering that as previously reported by FTX’s new CEO, John J Ray III, SBF has no access to any funds concerning the companies he sent into ruin. 

SBF met with White House officials a month before FTX’s collapse

Many were already aware about the ties of FTX’s former CEO to politics; it was already common knowledge that Sam Bankman Fried was one of the biggest political backers of the Biden campaign. 

Recently, however, news has emerged involving the FTX founder, now on trial in Manhattan, along with aides to the President of the United States. Indeed, SBF apparently held at least four meetings with senior White House officials during September and October, with the aim of forging political ties to influence crypto regulation before the collapse of his empire.  

Secure sources say Bankman-Fried met on 8 September with Steve Ricchetti, one of President Joe Biden‘s senior advisers.

The White House meetings focused on general discussion of the crypto industry and exchanges, as well as pandemic prevention related to the foundation, Guarding Against Pandemics, run by Gabe Bankman-Fried (SBF’s Brother), an official reported. 

The White House declined further comment regarding ties to the former CEO of FTX.

As of today, regulation of the cryptocurrency world is not what should concern Sam Bankman Fried, but one of the main issues will be justifying himself before Manhattan judges for the collapse of his company and the loss of millions and millions of dollars of his clients’ money. 

After the cooperation of his right arms, Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang, the situation for Sam Bankman Fried is increasingly complicated, charges of fraud and embezzlement are becoming more and more concrete, and there is very unlikely to be any evidence to support the charge. 

In addition, the US federal judge assigned to oversee the case concerning Sam Bankman-Fried has refused the assignment. The judge is reportedly a partner in the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, which served as counsel to FTX in 2021. 

According to the judge’s wife’s statement, her husband had no involvement during the representations between the law firm and the exchange firm. However, to avoid any possible conflict or the appearance of one, she declined to supervise the case of Sam Bankman Fried and FTX.