Two FTX Executives Plead Guilty to Criminal Charges. SBF Released on $250M Bond at U.S. Court Appearance: Home Confinement at Parents' Home in Palo Alto, California
Bankman-Fried, 30, was arrested last week in the Bahamas, where he lived and where FTX is based, cementing the one-time billionaire's fall from grace. He departed the Caribbean nation in FBI custody on Wednesday night.
- Sam Bankman-Fried was not asked to enter a plea on Thursday. He has previously acknowledged risk-management failures at FTX, but has said he does not believe he has criminal liability. His defense lawyer, Mark Cohen, declined to comment after the hearing in Manhattan federal court.
- Nicolas Roos, a prosecutor, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein that the bail package would require Bankman-Fried to surrender his passport and remain in home confinement at his parents' home in Palo Alto, California.
- His parents - both Stanford Law School professors - will co-sign the bond and post the equity in their home as assurance for Bankman-Fried's return to court.
- He would also be required to undergo regular mental health treatment and evaluation.
- Yesterday two of SBF's top associates plead guilty to US charges, Caroline Ellison, former chief executive of FTX trading affiliate Alameda Research, and Zixiao “Gary” Wang, a co-founder of FTX.
- Ellison pleaded guilty to seven counts, including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud and money laundering, which carry a maximum sentence of 110 years in prison, while Wang pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud, with a maximum 50-year sentence.
