In the fraud case against the founder of the collapsed crypto exchange FTX, a third former confidant also incriminated Sam Bankman-Fried. Former engineering chief Nishad Singh reported on Monday spending hundreds of millions of dollars on celebrity partnerships. Singh said he found these deals embarrassing and shameful because they “reeked of excess and pretentiousness.”
The New York Attorney General’s Office submitted documents relating to FTX sponsorship contracts with a total value of $1.1 billion. These included ones with football star Tom Brady, model Gisele Bündchen and comedian Larry David. She also presented a photo of Bankman-Fried with singer Katy Perry and actor Orlando Bloom at the 2022 Super Bowl. Prosecutors argue that Bankman-Fried squandered customer money to gain admiration.
The authorities accuse him of billion-dollar fraud and embezzlement of customer funds. He is said to have secretly moved money around in order to speculate and finance his lavish lifestyle. Before Singh, Caroline Ellison, the former head of Bankman-Fried’s Alameda brokerage firm and his former partner, had incriminated him. Gary Wang, the former head of technology and co-founder of FTX, also turned against him in court. Ellison, Wang and Singh pleaded guilty at a hearing and said they would cooperate with prosecutors. If convicted, Bankman-Fried could face up to 115 years in prison. He has repeatedly denied all fraud allegations and pleaded not guilty. However, he admitted mistakes in the company’s management.
After graduating from university, Bankman-Fried was hired as a cryptocurrency trader at the Jane Street brokerage firm. He made a fortune by betting on Bitcoin price differences on exchanges in the USA and Asia. In 2017 he set up his own brokerage firm Alameda, and in 2019 he founded the crypto exchange FTX. Their collapse at the end of 2022 shocked the crypto industry.