In September 2022, before the major shock which shook the FTX platform, its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, known as SBF, had scheduled meetings with important political figures. Among them, the former American president Bill Clintonthe governor of New York Kathy Hochul, and the mayor of New York Eric Adams. It was during the criminal trial of Sam Bankman-Fried that this information was revealed, following the testimony of an FBI agent.
Sam Bankman-Fried “SBF” strategic meetings before the fall of FTX
The year 2022 will remain engraved in the history of cryptocurrencies for multiple reasons, one of the most notable of which is undoubtedly the collapse of the FTX platform. This major event was preceded by strategic meetings held by Sam Bankman-Fried, alias “SBF”, with influential political and economic figures.
The moving trajectory of SBF traced by the FBI
According to the testimony of Richard Busick, a special agent of the FBI’s Cellular Analysis Team, Bankman-Fried’s schedule was busy in September 2022, two months before FTX collapsed. Busick was commissioned to trace SBF’s movements using cell tower data between June 2021 and November 2022. This information, combined with emails seized by the Department of Justice, revealed a very active September for SBF .
According to these sources, on September 20, SBF had a meeting with former US President Bill Clinton in a Hilton hotel in New York. A few days earlier, on September 16, he was listed as having met with the governor of New York State, Kathy Hochul, in a restaurant probably located on East 42nd Street. The following two days he also reportedly met Yasir bin Othman Al-Rumayyan, chairman of the Saudi state oil company Saudi “Aramco”, and Saudi Investment Minister Khalid A. Al-Falih. In March 2022, SBF had already had a meeting with New York Mayor Eric Adamsaccording to the data mentioned.
Tony Blair, Bill Clinton and Sam Bankman-Fried on stage at the Crypto Bahamas 2022 conference. Source : Forbes
The consequences of a collapse
Despite the importance of these meetings, their exact contents or the reasons for their holding were not disclosed. Earlier this week, Nishad Singh, the former head of engineering at FTX, described Bankman-Fried’s efforts to direct political donations. These attempts to gain political influence have also been highlighted in Michael Lewis’ new book, “Going Infinite“.
FTX experienced a liquidity crisis in early November 2022 and has filed for bankruptcy on November 11. In December, a US grand jury indicted Bankman-Fried for fraud, leading to his arrest in the Bahamas and his extradition to the United States.
Against this turbulent backdrop, other iconic figures such as former Alameda Research CEO and former SBF girlfriend Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder and former CTO Gary Wang have advocated guilty of multiple counts of fraud. Nishad Singh also pleaded guilty two months later and currently faces up to 75 years in prison. All three have testified as prosecution witnesses in Sam Bankman-Fried’s ongoing trial in New York.
Source : The Block
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2023-10-18 10:01:55
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