A New York federal judge agreed on Thursday, December 22, to release the American Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and former boss of the FTX cryptocurrency trading platform, on payment of a monster bail of 250 million dollars. .
Indicted in particular for fraud and association of criminals, “SBF”his nickname, had been extradited from the Bahamas on Wednesday evening after having given up contesting his surrender to the American authorities.
The huge bail is partly guaranteed by the Californian house of the parents of Sam-Bankman Fried, where he will be under house arrest pending his trial, according to the conditions approved by Judge Gabriel Gorenstein.
A fortune of $26 billion at its peak
At the end of November, the central figure in the biggest scandal in the history of cryptocurrencies claimed to have only $100,000 available. At its peak, at the start of the year, his fortune was estimated at $26 billion, entirely based on the shares of his companies, which have since gone bankrupt. The magistrate authorized the release of the accused of 30 years because he presents, according to him, a risk of absconding “minimal” and has never been convicted before.
Sam Bankman-Fried is suspected of having used, with collaborators, funds deposited on the platform by FTX clients to carry out speculative financial transactions with his other company, Alameda Research.
Donations to Democratic politicians
In addition to risky transactions via Alameda, he is also suspected of having invested part of this money in real estate in the Bahamas and of having made donations to Democratic politicians – always with funds from FTX clients – including Joe Biden during his presidential campaign.
Five of the eight charges against him each provide for a maximum sentence of twenty years in prison. The one who has long been seen as an iconoclastic genius of cryptocurrencies is therefore likely to spend the rest of his life in prison.
Source : BBN WORLD NEWS
