Sam Bankman-Fried: Former FTX boss charged with defrauding investors
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The former boss of one of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges has been charged with defrauding investors out of $1.8bn (£1.5bn).
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, has been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
He was arrested in the Bahamas after authorities there received formal notice that separate criminal charges had been filed against him in the US.
The 30-year-old, whose net worth peaked at $26bn (£21bn), ran the firm from the island until he stepped down as chief executive last month.
According to the SEC complaint, Bankman-Fried diverted customer funds to his first business, Alameda Research, without telling them.
The funds amassed at Alameda were used to make?undisclosed?venture?investments,?lavish?property?purchases,?and?large?political?donations, the SEC alleges.
Regarding the separate charges which led to his arrest in the Bahamas, those are expected to be revealed later.
He has the right to contest his extradition to face the charges, which came just a day before he was due to testify before America’s House?Financial?Services?Committee.
Bankman-Fried has been the focus of investigations by both US and Bahamian authorities since the collapse of FTX, which ran out of money in the crypto equivalent of a bank run.
It had been the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange.
