$1.7M in Crypto Disappears From A Bankman-Frieded-Linked Firm Within Days of His Release on Bail

A cryptocurrency trading firm that was linked to the company lost approximately $1.7 million. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried According to reports, he was released just days after being granted bail.

Thirty cryptocurrency wallets linked to Alameda Research, the bankrupt firm run by Bankman-Fried’s ex-paramour, suddenly became active on Dec. 28 following four weeks of inactivity, according to cryptocurrency site Cointelegraph. The money was moved using “mixing services” According to the site, this makes it more difficult for people to find them.

“Currently, our compliance team is working closely with investigators to detect the flow of the illegal funds, while also keeping a close eye on alerts from the community on funds with suspicious trails,” ChangeNOW, one service used to move the money, stated in a statement.

Alameda Research was conducted by Caroline EllisonBankman-Fried’s former 28-year-old girlfriend pleaded guilty in fraud charges. He is currently cooperating with the prosecutors. Bankman-Fried allegedly poured billions of dollars in clients’ funds deposited in his cryptocurrency exchange into Alameda. Ellison lost the money after a string of unsuccessful investments.

Caroline Ellison is the former CEO and founder of Alameda. She pleaded guilty to seven charges, including fraud, in connection to the FTX collapse. https://t.co/b0cVNIlGsI

— Insider Business (@BusinessInsider) December 22, 2022

Cointelegraph reported that funds were moved so quickly after Bankman-Fried was freed on bond. This raised suspicions within the crypto community. It appeared that those who moved the money used extraordinary measures to hide their tracks.

Arkham, a crypto forensic group, said that the first transfer was made with multiple Alameda addresses. They exchanged tokens for Ether and sent them to crypto mixers. Multiple wallets were used to transfer the money, ranging in value from $50,000 to $200,000; then it was sent to ChangeNOW and FixedFloat.

Cointelegraph reported that a second wallet was used for the exchange of stablecoins, before funds were sent to Fixedfloat.

Bankman-Fried (30), whose net wealth was once estimated to be $25 billion, was taken into custody in the Bahamas on fraud and extradited from New York. He was then released last week on $250 million bond. He was not required to post any money but must stay in Palo Alto (California) at the home of his parents. They are both Stanford University law professors.

Bankman-Fried, before his dramatic fall from grace was considered a darling among the Left. He gave to liberal causes. He claimed to believe in philanthropic principles that pursue profits only to give more money to the less fortunate. But Bankman-Fried later said he cynically adopted the Left’s language as a “dumb game we woke Westerners play,” Even though he was the sole proprietor of the company.

When the Bahamas-based crypto currency exchange crashed, thousands of investors lost their money. Some even their lives savings. Attorney John Jay Ray III, who was able to recover millions of dollars from victims of Enron’s collapse in the early 2000s, was installed at FTX to fix its balance sheet and return as much money to investors as possible. Recently, he indicated that he plans to make it illegal for politicians to accept donations from Bankman Fried. to return the money with interest.

Bankman-Fried can face up to 115 years imprisonment if convicted of all three counts: conspiracy to defraud commodities, conspiracy to steal securities, and conspiracy for money laundering.

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