Sam Bankman Fried and his former colleagues at FTX are sued for trade manipulation and stock price inflation before the collapse of the company thereby violating bankruptcy laws. A lawsuit has been filed by West Realm Shires and Alameda Research on this matter.
FTX Funds Misused
Sam Bankman and other FTX officials like Caroline Ellison, Nishad Singh and Gary Wang misused the funds from FTX and executed some transactions for their personal benefits. It is believed that they misused these funds to buy ownership stakes in Embed Financial Technologies Inc from its existing customers. The acquisition of the shares was disclosed by WRS in June last year.
According to the law, such actions are completely illegal and against the sentiments of the consumers. Wang and Ellison have accepted their faults and have already pleaded guilty in December 2022.
The insiders at FTX played quite smart, they already closed the transactions before filing for bankruptcy. According to the lawsuit filed by Alameda, the insiders at FTX hid the records that pertained to Alameda’s financing for the acquisition. In the lawsuit, Alameda has also sued the people involved in this case for moving the funds from Alameda’s bank account to a WRS account.
The lawsuit also mentions that the executives at FTX inflated the price by $220 million which led to the debtors receiving potentially lower amounts from the bidders. This is a clear tactic used by the insiders at FTX to defraud the investors. The transfer was made to Embed by WRS.
Simple Agreements for Future Equity (SAFEs) were issued by WRS in the names of Ellison, Singh and Wang. They could convert it into common stocks of WRS.
FTX’s Ongoing Battle
FTX filed for bankruptcy last year and since then the company has been accused of fraud and several lawsuits have been registered against them. While some high-ranking executives have accepted their faults, Sam Bankman still stands firm in his decision that he is not guilty. John Ray, the current CEO of FTX is well known for his expertise in recovering funds. Currently, the hopes of all customers are on him.
