The SEC has charged former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried with defrauding US consumers and concealing the diversion of customer monies.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of the now-defunct crypto exchange FTX.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Bankman-Fried with breaching anti-fraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The SEC’s lawsuit seeks injunctions against future securities law violations, including a prohibition on Bankman-Fried from participating in the issuance, acquisition, offer, or sale of any securities for any purpose other than his own personal account.
Bankman-Fried was charged by the SEC with coordinating a plan to defraud equity investors in FTX Trading Ltd. (FTX). The former CEO disguised his “diversion of FTX clients’ assets to crypto trading outfit Alameda Research while raising more than $1.8 billion from investors,” according to the regulatory agency.
“We allege that Sam Bankman-Fried built a house of cards on a foundation of deception while telling investors that it was one of the safest buildings in crypto,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler.”
The new allegations against the former CEO come just a day after he was arrested in the Bahamas at the behest of US officials. The SEC revealed just hours after Bankman-detention Fried’s that they were ready to pursue charges against the FTX co-founder that would be separate from the ones that led to his most recent arrest in the Bahamas.
