FTX investors file writ against former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and others

FTX investors file writ against former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and others
FTX logo is seen in this illustration taken, November 8, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Several FTX investors have filed a writ in Supreme Court accusing the company’s founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and his co-conspirators of orchestrating a massive years-long fraud to divert billions of customer funds for his own personal use and to help grow his crypto empire.

The writ seen by Eyewitness News lists Benjamin Armstrong, Rebecca Gallagher, Evan Singh Luthra et al as the defendants and Sam Bankman-Fried in his professional and personal capacity as the first defendant.

FTX Property Holdings Ltd,  FTX Digital Markets, FTX Bahamas Ventures, FTX Digital Markets (Bahamas) Ltd and Alameda Property  Holdings and Alameda Research  Bahamas Ltd are listed as the second through fourth defendants. Also listed as defendants in the matter are Clement T Maynard and Co incorporating Gibson and Co, Arion Limited, Eoz Limited, directors Clement T Maynard III and Heather Maynard and Metered Ltd.

In their statement of claim, the plaintiffs seek damages arising from May 2019 through November 2022 which is when they claim that  Bankman-Fried along with other defendants and his co-conspirators engaged in a scheme to defraud equity investors in FTX trading Ltd – the crypto asset trading platform – at the same time he was also defrauding the platform’s customers. 

“The defendants raised more than $1.8 billion from investors, including US investors who bought an equity stake in FTX believing that FTX  had appropriate controls and risk management measures. Unbeknownst to those investors and to  FTX’s trading customers, the defendants along with their co-conspirators orchestrated a massive years long fraud, diverting billions of dollars of the trading platform’s customer funds for his own personal benefit and to help grow his crypto empire,” the plaintiffs claim.

Bankman-Fried who was arrested while in the country earlier this month is wanted in the United States for financial crimes which include multiple counts of wire fraud and conspiracy related to the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange.

Attorney General Ryan Pinder confirmed yesterday that Bankman-Fried would be extradited from The Bahamas to the United States with his written consent last night.