Disgraced crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried (FTX) sues own law firm

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Last Updated on 15 September 2024 by CryptoTips.eu

Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO and founder of FTX (the major American crypto platform that went bankrupt back in 2022), has started an appeal process in New York to try and reduce his sentence. Notably, SBF’s new defense team claims that his former law firm Sullivan & Cromwell is partly to blame for the lengthy prison sentence he got (SBF was sentenced to 25 years in prison).

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Ellison

The variousĀ lawsuits against directors and board members of FTX, the once gigantic crypto platform that spectacularly collapsed in November 2022, are now criss-crossing each other. Several high profile directors of FTX have already been sentenced to prison or sought agreements with prosecutors.

Earlier this week, lawyers for Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda (FTX’s brokerage company) as well as the ex-girlfriend of Sam Bankman-Fried, claimed that because of her cooperation with authorities (Caroline was the star witness against SBF during its trial in October last year) doesn’t deserve to go to jail.

She will know her verdict on September 24 this month.

Appeal

So now we turn to Sam Bankman-Fried again, who has appealed against his 25 years prison sentence (which he received from a judge in New York in the spring of this year).

It’s hard to imagine now but just two years ago SBF, who is serving his sentence in a Brooklyn prison (where he gives crypto advice to guards in exchange for food), was a famous billionaire running a very large business in the Bahamas. His face graced the front pages of several business magazines and he had his picture taken with US Presidents.

But when a social media dispute between the CEOs of Binance (Changpeng Zhao) and FTX (Sam Bankman-Fried) culminated in a bank run on FTT (FTX’s cryptocurrency), Sam’s crypto empire collapsed like a house of cards in a matter of days.

Famous American businessmen, FTX customers and many crypto investors were left holding billions in losses and thus it was logical that someone had to take the blame as quickly as possible.

SBF was arrested in the Bahamas and extradited to the United States. In October last year he was found guilty by a judge in New York, after which a new crypto bull run began (because investors were finally able to turn the page again and judged that investing in crypto was once again ‘safe’).

His sentence was imposed in March of this year. 25 years behind bars was the harsh verdict. In the meantime, a lawsuit is also underway against his parents by disgruntled investors and debtors for having misused company funds.

Now his new legal team claims that his previous law firm Sullivan & Cromwell (which advised FTX even before the business empire went bankrupt) eagerly cooperated with authorities to cover up their own bad advice to SBF.

US press is already looking forward to hearing the arguments in that one.

Jeroen Kok

Jeroen is one of the lead copywriters on Cryptotips.eu and discusses all recent events in the crypto market. This includes news updates, but also price analyzes and more. He developed his passion for cryptocurrency during the bull run in 2017. He has learned a lot since then. The combination of cryptocurrency and creative writing is perfect for Jeroen and an excellent way to share his knowledge with a wide audience. Find me on LinkedIn / [email protected]
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