{"id":15464,"date":"2022-12-14T15:20:53","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T15:20:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/sbf-to-remain-in-a-bahamian-jail-for-2-months-report-claims-ftx-execs-had-a-covert-chat-channel-called-wirefraud-bitcoin-news\/"},"modified":"2022-12-14T15:20:53","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T15:20:53","slug":"sbf-to-remain-in-a-bahamian-jail-for-2-months-report-claims-ftx-execs-had-a-covert-chat-channel-called-wirefraud-bitcoin-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crowdfundjunction.com\/blog\/sbf-to-remain-in-a-bahamian-jail-for-2-months-report-claims-ftx-execs-had-a-covert-chat-channel-called-wirefraud-bitcoin-news\/","title":{"rendered":"SBF to Remain in a Bahamian Jail for 2 Months, Report Claims FTX Execs Had a Covert Chat Channel Called \u2018Wirefraud\u2019 \u2013 Bitcoin News"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Originally posted on : Bitcoin News )<\/b>
\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/header>\n
\n<\/div>\n

On Tuesday, the former CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), appeared in court with his newly appointed lawyer Mark Cohen, and his legal team asked the Bahamian judge Joyann Ferguson-Pratt to release SBF on bail with an ankle bracelet. Amid the lengthy court hearing reports detail that SBF\u2019s parents Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried attended the proceedings. Toward the end of the hearing, judge Ferguson-Pratt denied SBF\u2019s request to be released on bail and remanded Bankman-Fried to the Bahamian jail until Feb. 8, 2023.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bankman-Fried\u2019s Media Tour Comes to an End, AFR Report Claims FTX Insiders Had a Secret Signal Chat Group Called \u2018Wirefraud\u2019<\/h2>\n

During the first week of November, the co-founder of FTX Sam Bankman-Fried\u2019s (SBF) world turned upside down. It all started when Coindesk published an expose<\/a> on SBF\u2019s quantitative trading firm Alameda Research and the enormous balance of FTT tokens the company held. After the report, FTX and Alameda were under the spotlight and Binance\u2019s CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) revealed<\/a> his exchange would be dumping all of its FTT tokens.<\/p>\n

These two events fueled speculation that FTX and Alameda were insolvent and on Nov. 8, 2022, Binance said<\/a> it would purchase FTX after doing due diligence into the company\u2019s financials. However, the deal never panned out, and at 4:00 p.m. (ET) on Nov. 9, 2022, the world\u2019s largest crypto asset exchange by trade volume announced<\/a> it would be backing out of purchasing FTX.<\/p>\n

\"SBF
After SBF\u2019s lawyers Mark Cohen and Jerome Roberts begged the judge to release SBF on bail, Bahamian judge Ferguson-Pratt denied the request and said SBF must remain in jail until his next court hearing on Feb. 8, 2023.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At this point in time, all the digital assets from FTX\u2019s coffers were either withdrawn by customers (many of whom were Bahamas natives) or simply disappeared<\/a>. Two days after Binance backed out of the deal, SBF announced<\/a> that FTX and Alameda had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, alongside roughly 130 associated companies.<\/p>\n

SBF also revealed he had stepped down from his position as FTX\u2019s CEO and John J. Ray III<\/a> took the position in order to deal with the bankruptcy and restructuring process. Since the bankruptcy filing, SBF embarked on a media tour<\/a> doing a large number of interviews, while a significant amount of troubling evidence was being reported by numerous media publications.<\/p>\n

Prior to SBF\u2019s arrest<\/a> in The Bahamas, a report published by the Australian Financial Review (AFR) detailed<\/a> that FTX\u2019s SBF and his inner circle used a secret chat group called \u201cWirefraud.\u201d AFR\u2019s United States correspondent Matthew Cranston said \u201c[AFR] has [learned] that FTX founders Sam Bankman-Fried and Zixiao \u2018Gary\u2019 Wang, along with FTX engineer Nishad Singh and former Alameda Research chief executive Caroline Ellison<\/a>, used a chat group on Signal in the hope that the information would remain hidden.\u201d<\/p>\n

24 after the AFR report was published, Bankman-Fried was arrested. The FTX co-founder was also indicted by a federal grand jury in Manhattan, and charged<\/a> with eight counts<\/a> of financial fraud by the Southern District of New York (SDNY) prosecutor Damian Williams. SBF was further charged<\/a> by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and sued<\/a> by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).<\/p>\n

SBF\u2019s Legal Team Attempts to Get the Co-Founder out of Jail, Bahamian Judge Denies Bail, Disgraced FTX Co-Founder Gets Escorted out of Courthouse in Handcuffs<\/h2>\n

The same day, SBF appeared in court and his legal team attempted to get him released on bail. One report<\/a> notes that Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, SBF\u2019s parents, attended the court hearing. SBF\u2019s mother allegedly laughed out loud every time her son was called a \u201cfugitive,\u201d and his father put his fingers in his ears. His lawyer, Mark Cohen, the attorney who represented<\/a> Ghislaine Maxwell during her sex trafficking trial, attempted to get SBF released on $250,000 bail.<\/p>\n

\"SBF
SBF\u2019s father Joseph Bankman (pictured left). SBF\u2019s parents Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried (pictured right at the court hearing on Tuesday). Despite SBF saying his parents were not involved with FTX\u2019s dealings, the New York Times (NYT) detailed that \u201c[Joseph Bankman] was a paid FTX employee who traveled frequently to the Bahamas.\u201d The NYT report also says SBF\u2019s parents have become \u201cthe subject of gossip on Stanford\u2019s campus.\u201d \u201cI had a friend who said, \u2018You don\u2019t want to be seen with them,\u2019\u201d a former dean at Stanford and a close friend of the Bankman-Fried family told the NYT reporter.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cohen is quoted<\/a> as saying that his client \u201csuffered from depression, insomnia, and ADD for over a decade.\u201d During the hearing, prosecutors argued<\/a> that SBF was a \u201cflight risk\u201d due to all of his financial connections. However, judge Ferguson-Pratt did not seem swayed by the claims that said SBF suffered from alleged mental issues, and the fact that SBF had surrendered his passport.<\/p>\n

Judge Ferguson-Pratt told the court that bail was denied and SBF was to remain in custody until his Feb. 8, 2023 court hearing. Following the decision, the New York Post reports that SBF lowered his head, and gave his parents a hug before being escorted out of the courthouse in handcuffs.<\/p>\n

\n
\nTags in this story
\n<\/h6>\n
AFR report<\/a>, Australian Financial Review<\/a>, Bahamian Jail<\/a>, Bahamian judge<\/a>, Barbara Fried<\/a>, Caroline Ellison<\/a>, CFTC<\/a>, Court Date<\/a>, Court Hearing<\/a>, Feb 8<\/a>, FTX collapse<\/a>, FTX fraud<\/a>, Gary Wang<\/a>, Ghislaine Maxwell<\/a>, Jerome Roberts<\/a>, Joe Bankman<\/a>, Joseph Bankman<\/a>, lawyer<\/a>, Mark Cohen<\/a>, Media Tour<\/a>, Nishad Singh<\/a>, Sam Bankman-Fried<\/a>, sbf<\/a>, SBF\u2019s father<\/a>, SBF\u2019s mother<\/a>, SDNY<\/a>, SDNY prosecutor Damian Williams<\/a>, SEC<\/a>, Wirefraud group<\/a>, Zixiao \u2018Gary\u2019 Wang<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

What do you think about SBF\u2019s recent arrest and the accusations that say his inner circle were part of a secret chat group called \u201cWirefraud?\u201d What do you think about the Bahamian judge denying SBF\u2019s bail? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n
\nJamie Redman <\/h6>\n

\nJamie Redman is the News Lead at Bitcoin.com News and a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open-source code, and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 6,000 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols emerging today.

\n
\n
\n<\/a>
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Image Credits<\/b>: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Editorial photo credit: New York Post, Eyewitness News Bahamas,<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Disclaimer<\/strong>: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com<\/a> does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n