FTX founder Bankman-Fried released on $250 mln bond at US court appearance
Sam Bankman-Fried was released on a $250 million bond package while he awaits trial on fraud charges related to the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have accused him of stealing billions of dollars in FTX customer funds to plug losses at his hedge fund, Alameda Research.
Bankman-Fried was not asked to enter a plea on Thursday (December 22). He has previously acknowledged risk-management failures at FTX, but has said he does not believe he has criminal liability. His defence lawyer, Mark Cohen, declined to comment after the hearing in Manhattan federal court.
Nicolas Roos, a prosecutor, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein that the bail package would require Bankman-Fried to surrender his passport and remain in home confinement at his parents' home in Palo Alto, California. He would also be required to undergo regular mental health treatment and evaluation.
Roos called the package the "largest ever pretrial bond."
Bankman-Fried, 30, was arrested last week in the Bahamas, where he lived and where FTX is based, cementing the one-time billionaire's fall from grace. He departed the Caribbean nation in FBI custody on Wednesday night.
Cohen said he agreed with the prosecutors' proposed bail conditions. He noted that his parents - both Stanford Law School professors - would co-sign the bond and post the equity in their home as assurance for Bankman-Fried's return to court.
Wearing a grey suit and leg restraints, Bankman-Fried sat flanked by his lawyers and nodded when the judge informed him that if he fails to appear in court, a warrant would be issued for his arrest.
He spoke only when asked by Gorenstein whether he understood the conditions of his release, and that he could be charged with an additional crime if he fails to show up to court.
Gorenstein set Bankman-Fried's next court date for Jan. 3, 2023 before U.S. District Judge Ronny Abrams, who will handle the case.
He said Bankman-Fried had "achieved sufficient notoriety that it would be impossible" for him to hide without being recognized or engage in further financial schemes.
Bankman-Fried founded FTX in 2019. A boom in the values of bitcoin and other digital assets propelled the exchange to a valuation of some $32 billion earlier this year, making the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduate a billionaire several times over, as well as an influential donor to U.S. political campaigns.
But concerns about the commingling of funds between FTX and Alameda led to a flurry of customer withdrawals in early November, ultimately forcing the exchange to declare bankruptcy on Nov. 11. Bankman-Fried later said at a New York Times conference that he had just $100,000 in his bank account.
