Bankman-Fried claims he is innocent in crypto fraud case

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of bankrupt crypto trading platform FTX, pleaded guilty in a New York court. The former billionaire is suspected of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.

If convicted, he could face up to 115 years in prison, Reuters reported. The preliminary hearing will begin on October 2.

Earlier, two of his most important employees pleaded guilty to fraud. They are Carolyn Ellison and Gary Wang. Ellison is a former director of Alameda Research, an investment firm at Bankman-Fried. Wang is the co-founder of FTX.

Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas in the middle of last month after FTX went bankrupt and later surrendered to the United States. Bankman-Fried was released on bail in the United States. He paid $250 million for it.

FTX, where users can open a crypto account Coins Able to trade, declared bankrupt in November. The company ran into problems when crypto rates plummeted and massive withdrawals took place. It was discovered that billions of customers parked in the company were missing. A number of studies on FTX are ongoing.

Bankman-Fried was until recently one of the richest crypto businessmen in the world. He lived with his colleagues in the Bahamas, where FTX was headquartered. The crypto mogul said that he had made many mistakes in the past and that in retrospect he should have done many things differently, but that he did not commit fraud. “Like many people, I’m shocked by what happened recently,” he said.