Tag: FTX

Sam Bankman-Fried considered selling FTX equity to Saudi crown prince, says Caroline Ellison

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Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison claimed in court that Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried attempted to raise equity for FTX by considering an investment from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS. Addressing the court at SBF’s criminal trial on Oct. 11, Ellison reportedly said she had discussed ways of hedging Alameda investments with Bankman-Fried in 2022. According to the former Alameda CEO, Bankman-Fried said that MBS was a potential investor in the crypto exchange prior to its collapse in November. The potential investment by MBS was one of the…

Caroline Ellison provided 7 ‘alternative’ balance sheets hiding Alameda’s exposure to FTX

Testifying on the sixth day of Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial in New York, former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison admitted to providing fudged numbers for review by Genesis. According to reports from the courtroom on Oct. 11, Ellison claimed Bankman-Fried directed her to create “alternative” balance sheets on Alameda’s use of crypto exchange FTX’s funds. She reportedly testified that she had provided 7 spreadsheets, one of which SBF presented to Genesis. The document did not reveal Alameda had borrowed $10 billion from FTX. “Sam said don’t sent the balance…

Sam Bankman-Fried’s Defense Wants to Ask Caroline Ellison About FTX Lawyers’ Advice, Anthropic AI Raise

“This witness who’s on the stand made a personal investment in Anthropic and has knowledge of the company’s investment in Anthropic, and so in the event that the Court deems this admissible, it might be an issue that we want to raise with her,” said the prosecutor, Danielle Sassoon. “We don’t think that this is a permissible topic of questioning, but if it is, we may want to ask her questions about it.” Source

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial day 5: Recap

Bankman-Fried’s girlfriend and Alameda’s ex-CEO took the stand on the second week of the trial, revealing that SBF used customer funds for political lobbying. The second week of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial kicked off at 10 a.m. New York time today, as the defendant’s ex-girlfriend and former Alameda CEO, Caroline Ellison, took the stand. The testimony revealed details of how SBF used FTX’s customer funds, including political lobbying for both Democrats and Republicans.  Cross-examination of Gary Wang, CTO and Co-founder of FTX Gary Wang was questioned by the prosecutors…

FTX co-founder Wang discusses plea deal, knowledge of financial concepts at SBF trial

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Day six of the trial of Sam Bankman-Fried saw the conclusion of former FTX chief technology officer Gary Wang’s testimony and the beginning of former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison’s. Wang testified about his plea deal, among other things. According to Inner City Press on X (formerly Twitter), Assistant United States Attorney Nicolas Roos asked Wang, “At your first meeting with the government, did you admit to committing crimes with the defendant?” Wang replied that he did. “What were you told to do?” Roos asked. “To tell the truth or…

Caroline Ellison blames Sam Bankman-Fried for misuse of FTX user funds at trial

Former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried watched from the defense table as his former business associate and girlfriend Caroline Ellison testified at his criminal trial. According to reports from the courtroom on Oct. 10, Ellison admitted to fraud during her time at Alameda at Bankman-Fried’s direction. The former Alameda CEO reportedly placed the blame for misuse of FTX user funds directly on SBF, claiming he “set up the systems” leading to Alameda taking roughly $14 billion from the exchange. “Alameda took several billions of dollars from FTX customers and used…

SBF seeks to probe FTX lawyers’ roles in $200M Alameda loans

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Sam Bankman-Fried’s legal team is looking for permission to probe the alleged involvement of FTX lawyers in the issuance of $200 million worth of loans from Alameda that were approved by Gary Wang. As previously reported in the build-up to the highly anticipated trial, an Oct. 1 court ruling provisionally barred Bankman-Fried from apportioning blame to FTX lawyers who were allegedly involved in structuring and approving loans between Alameda and FTX. United States Judge Lewis Kaplan granted the government’s motion and ruled that Bankman-Fried’s legal team would have to request…

FTX hacker could be using SBF trial as a smokescreen: CertiK

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The hacker responsible for stealing over $400 million from FTX and FTX US in November could be using the hype around Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraud trial to further obfuscate the funds, says CertiK’s director of security operations Hugh Brooks. Only days before the start of Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial, the FTX hacker, known as “FTX Drainer,” began moving millions in Ether it had gained from the November attack. The movements have continued throughout the trial. In the last three days, the hacker transferred approximately 15,000 ETH (worth roughly $24 million) to three new wallet…

What to Expect When Caroline Ellison Takes Stand in FTX Founder’s Sam Bankman-Fried’s Trial

Ellison was far from an unwitting front-person during her time at Alameda, said Mark Cohen, Bankman-Fried’s lead attorney, in his opening argument in defense of Bankman-Fried. Instead, she was firmly in control of the reins at the trading fund – and her poor leadership, according to Bankman-Fried’s lawyers, is what ultimately placed the firm into dire financial straits. At one point, “as the majority owner of Alameda, Bankman-Fried spoke to Ms. Ellison, the CEO, and he urged her to put on a hedge,” Cohen told the jury. “She didn’t do…