working with some banks ftx Founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s trading firm Alameda Research has raised questions about the firm’s wire activity as early as 2020, according to a report released Monday by FTX.
The report noted that some banks began rejecting wires originating from or near Alameda that same year, as the cryptocurrency exchange struggled to gain access to the US banking system.
Federal prosecutors allege that Bankman-Fried stole billions of dollars in customer funds to cover losses in Alameda. FTX, which filed for bankruptcy in November following Bankman-Fried’s resignation as CEO, is estimated to have misappropriated customer assets worth about $8.7 billion (roughly Rs. 71,300 crores) from the exchange.
Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to 13 counts of fraud and conspiracy. He has previously said that when FTX did not have a bank account, some customers sent money to Alameda and they were deposited into FTX. Bankman-Fried did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.
In 2020, according to the report, some banks that worked with Almeida put pressure on the company for wire transfers.
A bank representative wrote to Almeida regarding references to FTX in the company’s wire activity and asked if the account was being used to settle trades on FTX. According to the report, an Alameda employee replied that while customers “sometimes confuse FTX and Alameda,” all wires through the account were to settle trades with Alameda.
FTX said Monday, the Alameda employee’s response was false. In 2020 alone, one Alameda account received deposits of over $250 billion (roughly Rs. 20,49,900 crores) from FTX clients and more than $4 billion (roughly Rs. 32,800 crores) from other Alameda accounts, which were partially was funded by the client. deposits, the report said.
Bankman-Fried, a 31-year-old former billionaire, rode the boom in digital assets to amass an estimated net worth of $26 billion (roughly Rs. 2,13,200 crores), and became an influential political and philanthropic donor before FTX declared bankruptcy.