In a legal filing on Wednesday, FTX attorneys suggested that Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of the bankrupt exchange, may have moved his funds and involved his family. Relatives of the disgraced executive are apparently also involved in the investigation.
The filing stated that the FTX founder’s brother, mother, and father were his advisors and should be subpoenaed alongside former company executives as the company’s new management investigates the alleged misappropriation of funds.
FTX Theft Probe
FTX wants to know who received potentially stolen funds from FTX and what communications they had with its executives but claims that some potential witnesses are refusing to cooperate voluntarily despite requests.
Barbara Fried, the mother of Sam Bankman-Fried, “has completely disregarded the requests,” according to the attorneys, and neither [former chief engineer Nishad] Singh nor Gabriel Bankman-Fried, Sam’s brother, have provided any meaningful engagement or response.
According to the filing, discussions with attorneys for Joseph Bankman, the father of Sam Bankman-Fried, are “ongoing” and were expected to result in an agreement.
In bankruptcy proceedings, FTX is referred to as the Debtor and claims that Gabriel Bankman-lobbying Fried’s organization, Guarding Against Pandemics, used customer funds to buy a multimillion-dollar property near the United States Capitol.
Mind the Gap, Fried’s political action committee allegedly received contributions from Sam Bankman-Fried and other FTX employees, and Fried’s parents “resided in a $16.4 million [Bahamas] house titled in their names, despite knowing that the house was ‘intended to be the company’s property,'” according to the filing.
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Sam Bankman-Fried Fraud Case
Executive Director Marissa McBride emailed CoinDesk to say that while Sam Bankman-Fried did donate to some of the programs that Mind the Gap recommended to its network, he did not donate directly to Mind the Gap, and the nonprofit reports all donations to the FEC.
Sam Bankman-Fried should also be subpoenaed by the court, according to the filing, along with Gary Wang, co-founder of FTX, and Caroline Ellison, CEO of trading firm Alameda Research, who, according to the filing, “expressly declined to provide the requested information.”
The request will be discussed at a hearing on February 8 in the Delaware bankruptcy court. Sam Bankman-Fried’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
After posting a 185.22% increase over the past four weeks, the FTT price paused in recent days as the broad market’s bullish rally slowed. At the time of writing, the altcoin was trading for $1,940, a decrease of nearly 22% from its previous price of $2,4.00.
In contrast, FTX’s bankruptcy proceedings continued as January approached its conclusion, with federal prosecutors seizing $700 million worth of assets earlier this month. The assets associated with Sam Bankman-Fried included 55 million Robinhood shares, which BlockFi and others attempted to claim as their own.
Read more: FTX bankruptcy: US investigators look into $372 million hacking theft
