US Court grants bail to former FTX CEO based on a $250m personal recognizance bond
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Following the collapse of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested and was facing criminal charges in the Bahamas. The US arranged to have him extradited, which he agreed to and signed the document earlier this week. He then traveled to the US following his last hearing in the Bahamas this Wednesday. Now, the US court granted him bail, based on a hefty $250 million personal recognizance bond.
US Court releases SBF with a set of conditions
The decision to release the former FTX CEO was made by the US Federal District Court in Manhattan this Thursday. US Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein agreed to it, after Bankman-Fried’s lawyer claimed that his client is not a flight risk. However, he was only to be released in exchange for the $250 million bond which was co-signed by Bankman-Fried’s parents, both of whom are Standard Law professors.
According to the Assistant US Attorney, Nicolas Roos, this is the largest pretrial bond that was ever used in this way. SBF’s parents, Alan and Barbara Bankman-Fried, co-signed the bond at their home in Palo Alto, California. The rest of the bond is to be fulfilled by a relative and a non-relative.
Interestingly enough, Bankman-Fried previously claimed that his bank account only contained $100,000. However, the bond itself was only one part of the deal. In order to be released, SBF also had to give up his passport and agree to be confined to his parents’ home, where he would be under constant electronic monitoring. In addition to everything mentioned previously, he is also required to undergo a mental evaluation, as well as substance abuse evaluations.
The fall of Sam Bankman-Fried and his associates
Following the collapse of FTX and its bankruptcy filing that came on November 11th of this year, Bankman-Fried was arrested by the Royal Bahamas Police. He was also charged with wire, securities, and commodities fraud and money laundering in both the Bahamas and the US.
Apart from him, other former FTX executives and associates were arrested as well, including the former CEO of Alameda Research, Caroline Ellison, as well as Alameda’s and FTX’s co-founder, Gary Wang, who also served as CTO at the collapsed exchange. Both have since pled guilty to the criminal charges brought against them in the United States.
Sam Bankman-Fried used to be one of the biggest and most popular names in the crypto industry. However, that all ended after certain reports came out, revealing that FTX has been co-mingling customer funds with Alameda Research, a quantitative trading firm that is its corporate sibling.
After the reports became public knowledge, FTX users started massively withdrawing funds from the exchange, leaving it with nothing but a liquidity crisis, and eventually, a bankruptcy filing.
