FTX Financial News

The second week of the criminal trial for former FTX exchange CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried continues on Oct. 10, with all eyes on the testimony from key witness Caroline Ellison. 

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao's plan to rescue the cryptocurrency market has fallen short of expectations eleven months after launch.

As the trial of Sam Bankman-Fried enters its second week, his lawyers are seeking to question FTX co-founder Gary Wang about his reliance on legal advice regarding loans from Alameda Research. 

Cardano’s founder Charles Hoskinson has compared the embattled co-founder of FTX to infamous ponzi scheme boss, Bernie Madoff.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s legal team is looking for permission to probe the alleged involvement of FTX lawyers in the issuance of $200 million worth of loans from Alameda that were approved by Gary Wang.

In a dramatic turn of events during the collapse of crypto exchange FTX last November, a heroic act by an adviser played a pivotal role in preventing what could have been one of the largest crypto heists in history.

Daniel C. Silva, former assistant US attorney and shareholder at law firm Buchalter, believes that Sam Bankman-Fried's defense might be setting the stage for a potential appeal if the disgraced crypto boss is found guilty. 

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has likened former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried to infamous American fraudster Bernie Madoff and accused the media of giving the former FTX CEO a “free pass.”

Blockchain data flagged by Coinbase director Conor Grogan indicates that Alameda Research redeemed over $38 billion for Tether (USDT) tokens in 2021 despite not having the equivalent assets under management.

The hacker responsible for stealing over $400 million from FTX and FTX US in November could be using the hype around Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraud trial to further obfuscate the funds, says CertiK’s director of security operations Hugh Brooks.

On Oct. 3, United States District Court Judge Analisa Torres rejected the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) motion to appeal its loss against Ripple Labs, the company behind the XRP (XRP) cryptocurrency. Torres denied the SEC’s motion, claiming the regulator failed to meet the burden to show that there were controlling questions of law or substantial grounds for differences of opinion on the matter. 

I haven’t read Michael Lewis’ The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, but I find it difficult to believe that the author expressed much sympathy for those involved in the United States housing bubble prior to the 2008 financial crisis. By contrast, his account of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) is relatively glowing.

Former FTX CEO Sam "SBF" Bankman-Fried has been on trial since Oct. 3 in a federal court in New York, accused of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud on FTX investors and customers. As expected, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is employing a forceful legal approach to demonstrate his offenses, while Bankman-Fried’s defense is offering minimal resistance so far. 

The second week of the Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried FTX fraud trial will commence its hearings again on Monday, Oct. 9, with one of the main focal points anticipated to be testimony from Caroline Ellison.

FTX cryptocurrency exchange resumed on Wednesday, with the judge aiming to finish selecting a jury and move on to opening statements. The 31-year-old-former billionaire's trial kicked off on Tuesday, nearly a year after FTX collapsed in a meltdown that shocked financial markets and tarnished the budding entrepreneur and philanthropist's reputation as an honest actor in a crypto sector pockmarked by scams and purported get-rich-quick schemes. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan chose a pool of nearly 50 qualified jurors, after dismissing dozens who could not serve for personal or professional reasons or would not be able to reach an impartial verdict. He said the parties would likely select the panel of 12 jurors and six alternates on Wednesday. That would pave the way for prosecutors and the defense to proceed to opening statements, in which each side would lay out their case.

Prosecutors are seeking to prevent Sam Bankman-Fried from mentioning AI startup Anthropic during the proceedings. 

United States prosecutors have requested the court presiding over Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial to bar his legal team from making any arguments relating to the potential recovery of FTX customer assets invested in Anthropic.

Prosecutors in the ongoing Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial have requested the judge to prevent the defendant from presenting the current value of FTX’s $500 million investment in Anthropic, a startup artificial intelligence company. 

Crypto exchange FTX used hidden Python code to misrepresent the value of its insurance fund — a pool of funds meant to prevent user losses during huge liquidation events — according to testimony from FTX co-founder Gary Wang. 

Attorney and crypto advocate John Deaton criticizes supporters of former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried during his ongoing trials related to the collapse of their crypto venture.

A cross-chain operating system says it allows anyone to launch and manage tokenized fund, strategy, or financial product. Velvet Capital aims to democratize asset management by enabling on-chain DeFi portfolios, with a number of high-profile protocols already on board.