Ryan Salame, the CEO of the Bahamas offshoot of the bankrupt FTX Exchange has been reported to be the one that tipped off Sam Bankman-Fried’s dealings to regulations in the country. Bankman-Fried was accused of transferring customers’ funds in FTX Exchange to his hedge fund, Alameda Research LLC.
According to statements made in a court Affidavit, Ryan Salame told Christian. R.Rolle, Executive Director of the Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB) via a conference call that Bankman-Fried transferred customers’ funds in FTX to cover financial losses in Alameda Research.
The statements made by Salame gave hints to SCB that such transfers were illegal and inappropriate because they were done without customers’ consent.
According to Rolle, the SCB started looking into the matter after Salame revealed to the Commission what the former CEO was doing but FTX declared bankruptcy two days after the message was received.
Furthermore, Salame hinted that only 3 people at the exchange which includes Sam Bankman-Fried, Nishad Singh, and Zixiao (Gary) Wang had access codes to initiate and complete transfers in such a manner above because such acts are sensitive and may be seen as criminal.
It is worth noting that the two FTX executives whose names were mentioned are currently not facing any criminal charges.
Sam Bankman-Fried Faces the Law
Sam Bankman-Fried who has been accused of offenses over misappropriation of investors’ funds has been reported to be in police custody in the Bahamas.
According to news reports, Bankman-Fried was also charged with unduly making contributions to U.S. political campaigns and has been denied bail by a Magistrate Judge. Bankman-Fried’s attorney had requested that the former CEO pay $250,000 in cash and be permitted to wear an ankle bracelet, but the Judge, Joyann Ferguson-Pratt turned down the request.
Shortly after some new media reported that FTX was having liquidity issues, Bankman-Fried halted customers’ withdrawals in the trading platform and said he needed funds to inject into the business.
Hopefully, Bankman-Fried’s temporary imprisonment will serve as a warning to crypto executives not to misappropriate investor funds because there will be consequences.
So far, so many investors have lost their funds due to the collapse of the FTX platform. For instance, Temasek Holdings Limited wrote off its $275 million investment with the bankrupt FTX exchange. Sequoia Capital also wrote down its investments in FTX to zero.
