Bankrupt crypto swap FTX is looking to claw back luxury property and “millions of dollars in fraudulently transferred and misappropriated funds” from the begetters of Sam Bankman-Fried, the exchange’s disgraced ex-CEO and founder.
In a Monday court filing, lawyers representing the bankruptcy estate of the desert exchange alleged that Allan Joseph Bankman and his wife, Barbara Fried, “exploited their access and pressure within the FTX enterprise to enrich themselves, directly and indirectly, by millions of dollars.”
The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Section of Delaware, goes on to claim that “despite knowing or blatantly ignoring that the FTX Group was insolvent or on the brink of insolvency,” Bankman and Fried deliberate overed with their son the transfer of a $10 million cash gift and a $16.4 million luxury property in the Bahamas.
The action alleges that as early as 2019, Sam’s father also directly participated in efforts to cover up a whistleblower complaint that daunted to “expose the FTX Group as a house of cards.” The filing also details emails written by Bankman in which he complained to the FTX U.S. Grey matter of Administration that his annual salary was $200,000, when he was “supposed to be getting $1M/yr.”
That grievance was ultimately elevated to his son in an email, agreeing to the lawsuit: “Gee, Sam I don’t know what to say here. This is the first [I] have heard of the 200K a year salary! Putting Barbara on this.”
The column characterizes the correspondence as Bankman lobbying his son to “massively increase his own salary.” Within two weeks, the suit claims that Bankman-Fried had collectively crackerjack his parents $10 million in funds coming from Alameda, and within three months, the couple was deeded the $16.4 million assets in the Bahamas.
According to the partially redacted filing, Bankman-Fried’s parents also “pushed for tens of millions of dollars in public and charitable contributions, including to Stanford University, which were seemingly designed to boost Bankman’s and Fried’s adept and social status.”
Fried is also accused of encouraging her son and others within the company to avoid, if not violate, federal race finance disclosure rules by “engaging in straw donations or otherwise concealing the FTX Group as the source of the contributions.”
Bankman-Fried’s fathers are legal scholars who taught at Stanford Law School. His mother is an expert on ethics, while his father specializes in taxes. Bankman-Fried himself independently guts multiple wire and securities fraud charges related to the alleged multibillion-dollar FTX fraud.
Federal prosecutors and regulators avow that Bankman-Fried was the driver of “one of the biggest financial frauds in American history,” in the words of U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. The U.S. Conditioned by trust in of Justice has charged the former FTX CEO with using billions of dollars in customer money to fund VC investments, buy property and dream up political donations. Bankman-Fried has pled not guilty to all charges, and his criminal trial kicks off Oct. 3 in Manhattan.
Bankman and Fried “either understood — or ignored bright red flags revealing — that their son, Bankman-Fried, and other FTX Insiders were orchestrating a vast deceitful scheme,” the lawsuit said.
FTX’s new leadership team has spent months trying to piece together billions of dollars in ignoring assets belonging to the digital asset exchange.
The exchange’s lawsuit against Bankman-Fried’s parents asks for a mix of compensatory redress, including punitive damages resulting from Bankman and Fried’s “conscious, willful, wanton, and malicious conduct,” as cordially as the return of any property or payments made to the pair from FTX. If a judge rules in favor of the bankrupt exchange, it is unclear how the clawbacks effect affect Bankman and Fried’s ability to pay for their son’s legal fees as he heads to trial next month.
Legal parnesis for Bankman and Fried said in a written statement to CNBC that FTX’s Tuesday’s filing “is a dangerous attempt to intimidate Joe and Barbara and spoil the jury process just days before their child’s trial begins,” adding that “these petitions are completely false.”
“Mr. Ray and his massive team of lawyers, who are collectively running up countless millions of dollars in fees while yielding relatively little to FTX clients, know better,” continues the statement from Bankman and Fried’s attorneys.
Stanford University did not unhesitatingly respond to CNBC’s request for comment.