Gary Wang, the co-founder of FTX, and Caroline Ellison, a former CEO of Alameda Research, both pled guilty to counts of fraud brought against them in connection with the FTX and Alameda crashes.
Williams stated, “As I said last week, this investigation is ongoing and moving very quickly. I also said last week’s announcement would not be our last and let me be clear once again, neither is today’s.”
“Let me reiterate a call that I made last week. If you participated in misconduct at FTX or Alameda, now is the time to get ahead of it. We are moving quickly, and our patience is not eternal,” Williams added.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the creator of FTX, is now being held in custody by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Williams further said that SBF is “on his way back to the United States” and will be brought straight to the SDNY to make an appearance in court there.
Additionally, charges have been brought against Ellison and Wang by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the United States.
The filing with the SEC makes the allegation that between the years of 2019 and 2022, Ellison fostered the scam at the request of Bankman-Fried by manipulating the price of the FTT token by purchasing it in large quantities on the open market to support its price. This took place between the years of 2019 and 2022.
According to the lawsuit, Bankman-Fried and Ellison fraudulently increased the value of Alameda’s FTT assets. This, in turn, increased the value of the collateral on Alameda’s balance sheet and misled investors about FTX’s risk exposure.
In addition, the complaint asserts that Ellison and Wang actively engaged in the conspiracy to mislead the investors of FTX and carried out activities that were critical to the accomplishment of the objective of the fraud.
According to the SEC, Wang was the one who built the software code for FTX that made it possible for Alameda to divert FTX customer money, and Ellison was the one who utilized those monies for the trading operations of Alameda.
Both Wang and Ellison are accused of committing fraud in connection with the sale of digital asset commodities in interstate commerce in the CFTC’s amended complaint. In addition, Ellison is accused of committing fraud in connection with the sale of digital asset commodities while also making substantial misrepresentations.
The week before last, SBF said that he did not participate in the ‘Wirefraud’ Chat Group prior to his detention. According to reports, Gary Wang, Nishad Singh, an engineer for FTX, and Caroline Ellison were all members of the chat group known as “Wirefraud,” and they used it to share confidential information about FTX and Alameda’s operations when the company was failing.
Compiled by Coinbold
