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Unpacking the FTX Situation
Now that Samuel Bankman-Fried (SBF) is being extradited to the United States and news has hit that two of his deputies are cooperating against him, the next questions become what is going to happen with the charges against SBF, what happens with the remaining FTX funds, and what are the regulatory implications?
I’ve been getting tons of questions from both crypto folks and my non-crypto interest friends, so here’s my shot at a quick explainer on these topics.
What are the criminal charges against SBF?
Right now, it appears that SBF faces five main types of charges:
- Wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud on customers
- Wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud on lenders
- Commodities and securities fraud
- Conspiracy to commit money laundering
- Campaign finance law violations
Okay so what does all that mean, if one is not a lawyer or federal prosecutor familiar with this type of language?
So… what do all these actually mean, in English? On wire fraud, here’s the source from the DoJ itself:
U.S. DOJ Criminal Resource Manual Section 941.18 U.S.C. 1343:
