Ex-crypto boss extradited to US, two employees plead guilty

Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and former CEO of bankrupt US crypto trading exchange FTX, has been extradited and is en route to the US from the Bahamas. He became arrested early last week at the request of the United States. fried banker suspected of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.

Two of its most important employees also pleaded guilty to fraud. They are Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang. Ellison is the former director of Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried’s investment company. Wang is co-founder of FTX.

In a video statement, New York District Attorney Damian Williams says others involved in the fraud must also come forward. “The investigation is in full swing and moving very quickly,” Williams said. Further say him that the patience of justice is not infinite.

In exchange for the two employees’ admission of guilt and their full cooperation in the investigation, they can expect a reduced sentence. Without this agreement, Ellison faces up to 110 years in prison and Wang 50 years.

They are free again, after having both paid bail of 250,000 euros. They are not permitted to leave the United States for the foreseeable future.

FTX, where users could open a crypto account and coins could negotiate, was declared bankrupt last month. The company ran into trouble when crypto rates plummeted and money was withdrawn en masse. Billions of customers who had been parked with the company turned out to have disappeared. Several studies on FTX are ongoing.

Bankman-Fried was one of the richest crypto billionaires in the world until early last month. He lived with his colleagues in the Bahamas, where FTX’s headquarters were also located. The crypto boss said earlier made a lot of mistakes, and that in hindsight he should have done things differently, but that he did not commit fraud. “I am as shocked by what has happened over the past month as many others,” he said.