FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Released on $250 Million Bond

Mr. Bankman-Fried’s father and mother have served on the Stanford Law School faculty since the 1980s. Mr. Bankman-Fried and his younger brother, Gabe, grew up on Stanford’s campus, in a house next to a student-run cooperative where undergraduates often threw raucous parties.

When Mr. Bankman-Fried started FTX, his parents were enthusiastic supporters. Mr. Bankman was an employee for 11 months, focusing on the company’s charitable work. Both parents were in court on Thursday, Ms. Fried dressed in all black and Mr. Bankman with an emotionless expression.

Mr. Bankman and Ms. Fried are not actually paying $250 million to have Mr. Bankman-Fried released. But in theory, they would be liable for that amount if their son fled, and their house could be seized.

Mr. Bankman-Fried’s legal jeopardy is growing by the day. The plea deals with the two former executives, Ms. Ellison and Mr. Wang, appear to significantly strengthen the case against him. Both were part of his inner circle in the Bahamas; they lived with Mr. Bankman-Fried in a luxury penthouse with seven others, and Ms. Ellison and Mr. Bankman-Fried have dated at times.

Ms. Ellison, 28, became the chief executive of Alameda after Mr. Bankman-Fried started FTX. Mr. Wang, 29, helped Mr. Bankman-Fried found Alameda and FTX, before serving as the exchange’s chief technology officer. The charges against the two were “in connection with their roles in the frauds that contributed to FTX’s collapse,” said Mr. Williams, the U.S. attorney.

“The cooperation deals make it significantly harder for Bankman-Fried to argue that he didn’t know what was going on at FTX,” said Rebecca Roiphe, a former assistant district attorney in Manhattan who is now a professor at New York Law School.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/22/business/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-bail.html