The actions of disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s legislation professor dad and mom are below heavy scrutiny this week following the previous billionaire’s arrest on an array of federal costs.
Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, each professors at Stanford College, raised eyebrows on Tuesday with their habits at their son’s extradition listening to within the Bahamas.
About 1,000 miles away on Capitol Hill, new FTX CEO John Ray revealed throughout bombshell testimony that he was “investigating” the dad and mom’ function in FTX’s downfall.
Bankman, who acquired funds from FTX and was closely concerned within the doomed platform’s operations, was seen sporadically plugging his ears in the course of the listening to “as if to drown out the sound of the proceedings,” CoinDesk reported.
Fried appeared disdainful of the courtroom’s characterization of Bankman-Fried as a “fugitive” and “audibly laughed a number of occasions,” based on the report.
The embattled dad and mom reportedly sat within the third row and “appeared to oscillate between dejection and defiance” in the course of the listening to, which culminated in a choose denying Bankman-Fried’s request for $250,000 in money bail. He'll stay in a hellish Bahamas jail till his subsequent listening to on Feb. 8.
Throughout his testimony earlier than the Home Monetary Providers Committee, Ray confirmed that Bankman had given “authorized recommendation” to his son at FTX and acquired money funds from the corporate.
“I don’t know if he really had ‘worker’ standing, however he actually acquired funds, the household did obtain funds,” Ray mentioned.
The Submit has reached out to a spokesperson for Bankman and Fried for remark.
Rep. Invoice Huizenga (R-Mich.), who had questioned Ray in regards to the crypto child’s dad and mom — each of whom have sturdy ties to Democrats — famous that Bankman-Fried was “no less than quarter-hour late” to a gathering at his workplace in December 2021 and that “his father accompanied him” on the go to.
“It appears to me that there’s much more to uncover right here. Actually, Mr. Bankman-Fried has, let’s say, ‘wooed many’ in New York, Silicon Valley, world wide and sure, actually right here in DC,” Huizenga mentioned.
Property data obtained by Reuters confirmed FTX had bought a $16.4 million luxurious beachfront property for the dad and mom that was meant as a “trip dwelling.”
“I do know it was not supposed to be their long-term property. It was supposed to be the corporate’s property. I don’t understand how that was papered in,” Bankman-Fried claimed final month.
Bankman, who helped craft Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s failed laws to simplify the tax code in 2016, usually accompanied his son to conferences on Capitol Hill throughout FTX’s rise to prominence within the cryptocurrency sector. He additionally performed an lively function in guiding the corporate’s philanthropic efforts and even launched his son to an influential investor, Orlando Bravo.
Whereas Fried was not a paid worker of FTX, she was carefully tied to her son’s donations of tens of tens of millions of dollars to Democrats forward of the 2022 midterm elections. The ex-billionaire contributed to a political advocacy community that Fried oversaw.
The dad and mom’ involvement with FTX has additionally impacted their standing at Stanford, the place they've develop into a “topic of gossip” amongst colleagues, based on the New York Occasions.
“I had a pal who mentioned, ‘You don’t need to be seen with them,’” Larry Kramer, a former dean at Stanford’s legislation faculty and a household pal, advised the outlet. “I don’t see how this doesn’t bankrupt them.”
Bankman and Fried “have advised associates that their son’s authorized payments will possible wipe them out financially,” the Wall Avenue Journal reported earlier this week.
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