Friday, January 27, 2023

"Sam Bankman-Fried’s Mother and Brother Not Cooperating With Financial Probe, FTX Lawyers Say"

From CoinDesk, January 26:

Seeking to locate allegedly misappropriated funds, the lawyers from the bankrupt crypto exchange have gotten some answers from the founder's father. 

At least some of Sam Bankman-Fried's immediate family aren’t cooperating with the probe into the collapsed crypto exchange FTX and should be cross-questioned in court, the company’s lawyers have said in a legal filing made Wednesday.

The FTX founder’s brother, mother and father were his “advisors,” and should be subpoenaed alongside former company executives as the company’s new management seeks to find out what happened to allegedly misappropriated funds, the filing said.

“The Debtors and their advisors have been working tirelessly and nonstop over the last 70 plus days … to implement controls, recover and protect estate assets,” said the legal filing made jointly by FTX and creditor representatives. “Key questions remain, however, concerning numerous aspects of the Debtors’ finances and transactions," the filing continued.

FTX wants to know who received potentially stolen funds from FTX, and what communications they had with its executives – but alleges that some potential witnesses aren't playing ball despite requests to cooperate voluntarily.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s mother, Barbara Fried, “has ignored the requests altogether,” the attorneys say, while “the debtors have not received meaningful engagement or any response from [former chief engineer Nishad] Singh or Mr. Gabriel Bankman-Fried,” Sam’s brother....

 They have secrets. And the secrets extend all the way from Stanford to Washington D.C.