Report: Bankman-Fried Could Get Bail Upon Return to US

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried will return to America Wednesday (Dec. 21) under FBI escort.

And upon doing so, the disgraced cryptocurrency wunderkind could be granted bail, assuming negotiations between his lawyers and federal prosecutors work out.

That’s according to a New York Times report, citing unnamed sources who say the bail would be under conditions such as home detention or electronic monitoring.

Bankman-Fried, 30, is due in federal court in Manhattan Wednesday to face charges stemming from the collapse of FTX, which was once one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world.

Although the crypto exchange fell apart in a matter of days, authorities allege the fraud leading to that collapse stretched back to May of 2019, with Bankman-Fried using customer funds to prop up sister company Alameda Research and pay for things like political donations, venture investments and real estate purchases.

Bankman-Fried faces charges from three federal agencies. The Department of Justice has accused him of wire fraud and various conspiracy counts, while a civil complaint from the Securities and Exchange Commission charges him with two counts of civil securities fraud.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has charged him and FTX with two counts of violating antifraud provisions in the Commodity Exchange Act and is requesting a juried trial. Bankman-Fried could face substantial prison time, as charges like wire fraud carry prison terms of up to 20 years.

Bankman-Fried — who had previously fought extradition before an apparent change of heart this weekend — has never admitted any criminal wrongdoing, but has repeatedly apologized for mistakes he made in the operation of his company.

As PYMNTS wrote earlier this week, the investments FTX and Alameda made reflect the chaotic inner workings of the exchange itself.

A leaked Excel document shows more than $5.4 billion of capital was deployed through 10 investment vehicles across nearly 500 investments.

“By most accounts, that’s a lot of dry powder, so to speak, for a company founded in the spring of 2019 to ignite over just a short period,” PYMNTS wrote.

The two largest investments, an eventual $1.15 billion that went to crypto mining company Genesis and just under half a billion to artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, have been described by at least one “crypto influencer” as “ridiculous.”

“Just like FTX and Alameda bet big and went fast before eventually going bust, it appears that, just like its parent firm, the venture vehicle was equally disorganized with next to no record keeping,” PYMNTS wrote.