Ovunc Kutlu
22 December 2022•Update: 23 December 2022
ISTANBUL
Disgraced former FTX CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Fried entered a New York court Thursday for legal proceedings after he was extradited from the Bahamas.
Bankman-Fried is facing eight charges from US prosecutors amid the sudden collapse and implosion of FTX, once the world's third-biggest cryptocurrency trading platform.
Prosecutors on Monday accepted plea agreements from two associates of Bankman-Fried, according to US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams. Officials said both are cooperating.
Co-founder and former CTO Gary Wang pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud.
Alameda Research's former CEO Caroline Ellison pleaded guilty to similar charges.
The US' Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last week charged Bankman-Fried with defrauding investors.
The regulator last week said FTX, based in the Bahamas, raised more than $1.8 billion from equity investors, including approximately $1.1 billion from 90 US-based investors, since at least May 2019.
Authorities in the Bahamas arrested Bankman-Fried last week at the request of the US.
Barbara Fried, his mother, also arrived at the federal court in Manhattan for her son's arraignment.
The SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission also announced charges against Wang and Ellison on Wednesday.
Bankman-Fried will be released on bail of $250 million, US Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein ruled after a deal between defense attorneys and federal prosecutors, according to multiple reports.
He will be under "strict supervision" custody in his parents’ home in the state of California, which was put up as equity to partially meet the bail amount.
As part of the agreement, Bankman-Fried will remain in confinement at the home in Palo Alto, have regular mental health treatment and evaluation, surrender his passport, wear an electronic monitoring bracelet and is forbidden from opening any line of credit of more than $1,000.
In addition to his parent’s home, the bond was secured by two other individuals with "considerable assets," according to reports.
Real estate heir Robert Durst's bail for murder was the highest ever at $3 billion.
Federal prosecutors called Bankman-Fried's bond "the largest-ever" in a pre-trial stage.
The only white-collar defendant who matched that figure was financier Michael Milken when he was accused of 98 counts of racketeering and securities fraud in 1989. His bail was $250 million.
Bankman-Fried will have his next court hearing Jan. 3 in the Manhattan court.
