美国证券交易委员会周二指控山姆·班克曼·弗里德加密货币巨头FTX和交易公司Alameda Research四面楚歌的前首席执行官欺诈投资者。
“FTX的崩溃凸显了未注册的加密资产交易平台可能给投资者和客户带来的非常真实的风险，”证交会执法部门主任古尔比尔·s·格雷瓦尔(Gurbir S. Grewal)在一份声明中说。
据巴哈马皇家警察部队称，纽约联邦检察官在一份密封的起诉书中提出刑事指控后，班克曼-弗里德于周一在巴哈马被捕。周二，他出现在巴哈马的法庭上，在一名法官认定他太有潜逃风险后，他被拒绝保释。
班克曼-弗里德因潜逃风险拒绝保释
山姆·班克曼-弗里德的保释申请在周二被驳回，此前法官认定他有太大的潜逃风险。
他将被还押至2023年2月8日，关押在巴哈马惩教署。
据监狱长称，班克曼-弗里德将于周二晚上与其他几名囚犯一起被关押在监狱的医疗部门。
让-皮埃尔不会说拜登是否会归还捐款
当被问及FTX创始人萨姆·班克曼-弗里德被捕的具体情况时，白宫新闻秘书郭佳欣·让-皮埃尔不予置评，当被问及乔·拜登总统是否计划归还给他2020年竞选活动的500多万美元捐款时，他推迟了《哈奇法案》。
哈奇法案禁止像让-皮埃尔这样的联邦雇员参与政治竞选。
Jean-Pierre也没有给出拜登对FTX被捕和垮台的看法。然而，她更愿意谈论如何在加密领域实施监管。
苏珊·沃尔什/美联社
白宫新闻秘书郭佳欣·让-皮耶在白宫的每日简报中说
“本届政府一直敦促国会采取行动，解决数字资产造成的监管差距，并支持立法工作，制定加密立法，以更好地保护美国消费者。事实上，就在上个月，财政部长珍妮特·耶伦(Janet yell en)呼吁国会‘迅速采取行动，填补监管差距’。”这是她自己说的一句话，政府已经确定了这些差距的样子。但是，我们再次敦促这是国会应该做的事情。"
美国检察官达米安·威廉姆斯敦促政治家们回来班克曼-弗里德在周二早些时候的新闻发布会上捐赠的数百万美元。
联邦官员称，FTX客户损失超过80亿美元
纽约州联邦检察官周二在讨论一项“复杂而庞大”的调查结果时表示，山姆·班克曼-弗里德(Sam Bankman-Fried)欺诈了FTX的客户和投资者，以及他的对冲基金阿拉米达研究公司(Alameda Research)的贷款人，并违反了竞选财务法。
刑事指控是在FTX申请320亿美元破产保护一个月后提出的，美国检察官Damian Williams表示，调查正在进行中，“进展非常快”
威廉姆斯说，他在上周三批准了对班克曼-弗里德的指控。一个大陪审团星期五驳回了起诉。
商品期货交易委员会的格雷琴·洛说，客户损失超过80亿美元。
除了欺诈和共谋之外，起诉书还指控班克曼-弗里德利用窃取的资金向共和党和民主党提供了数千万美元的竞选捐款，违反了竞选财务法。起诉书称，捐款是以阿拉米达研究公司的名义进行的，资金来自FTX。
威廉姆斯敦促接受班克曼-弗里德或阿拉米达捐款的政治活动和候选人与他的办公室合作，退还这笔钱。
班克曼-弗里德反对被从巴哈马引渡到纽约，以面对所有这些指控。
“欺诈就是欺诈，”联邦调查局助理局长迈克尔·德里斯科尔说。"投资计划的复杂程度无关紧要。"
班克曼·弗里德不会在出庭时放弃引渡
Sam Bankman-Fried周二在巴哈马首次出庭时，并没有放弃引渡听证的权利。
如果他放弃了自己的权利，美国本可以立即引渡班克曼-弗里德。现在还不清楚引渡会多快发生。
截至中午，法庭诉讼仍在进行中。
Sam Bankman-Fried arrest live updates: FTX customers lost $8 billion, feds say
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday chargedSam Bankman-Fried, the embattled former CEO of cryptocurrency giant FTX and trading firm Alameda Research, withdefrauding investors.
"FTX's collapse highlights the very real risks that unregistered crypto asset trading platforms can pose for investors and customers alike," Gurbir S. Grewal, director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, said in a statement.
Bankman-Fried was arrested Monday in the Bahamas after federal prosecutors in New York filed criminal charges contained in a sealed indictment, according to the Royal Bahamas Police Force. He appeared in court in the Bahamas on Tuesday and was denied bail after a judge determined he was too much of a flight risk.
Bankman-Fried denied bail due to flight risk
Sam Bankman-Fried's application for bail was denied on Tuesday after a judge determined he was too much of a flight risk.
He will be remanded until Feb. 8, 2023, in the Bahamas Department of Corrections.
Bankman-Fried will be held in the prison's medical department Tuesday night with a few other inmates, according to the prison chief.
Jean-Pierre won't say whether Biden will return donations
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre would not engage when asked specifically about FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's arrest, and deferred to the Hatch Act when pressed if President Joe Biden planned to return the more than $5 million in donations that were given to his 2020 campaign.
The Hatch Act prevents federal employees, like Jean-Pierre, from engaging in political campaigning.
Jean-Pierre also wouldn't give Biden's opinion on the arrest and collapse of FTX. However, she was more willing to talk about what could be done to put regulations in place in the crypto sphere.
"This administration has consistently urged Congress to take action to address regulatory gaps posed by digital assets and support legislative efforts to enact crypto legislation to better protect American consumers that just last month Secretary [of the Treasury Janet] Yellen, in fact, called on Congress to 'move quickly to fill the regulatory gaps.' That's a quote that she said herself and the administration has identified what those gaps look like," Jean-Pierre told reporters. "But again, we have urged this is something for Congress to do."
U.S. Attorney Damian Williamsurged politicians to returnthe millions of dollars donated by Bankman-Fried at a press conference earlier Tuesday.
More than $8 billion in FTX customer losses, federal official says
Sam Bankman-Fried defrauded customers and investors in FTX as well as lenders to his hedge fund, Alameda Research, and he violated campaign finance laws, federal prosecutors in New York said Tuesday as they discussed the fruits of a "complex and sprawling" investigation.
The criminal charges came one month after FTX filed a $32 billion bankruptcy and U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said the investigation was ongoing and "moving very quickly."
Williams said he authorized charges against Bankman-Fried on Wednesday of last week. A grand jury returned an indictment Friday.
There are more than $8 billion in customer losses, said Gretchen Lowe of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
In addition to fraud and conspiracy, the indictment alleged Bankman-Fried violated campaign finance laws by making tens of millions of dollars in campaign donations -- to both Republicans and Democrats -- with stolen funds. The contributions were made in the name of Alameda Research with money taken from FTX, the indictment alleged.
Williams urged political campaigns and candidates who received donations from Bankman-Fried or Alameda to work with his office to return the money.
Bankman-Fried is fighting extradition from the Bahamas to New York to face all of these charges.
"Fraud is fraud," FBI Assistant Director Michael Driscoll said. "It does not matter the complexity of the investment scheme."
Bankman-Fried doesn't waive extradition in court appearance
Sam Bankman-Fried did not waive his rights to an extradition hearing as he made his first court appearance in the Bahamas on Tuesday.
Had he waived his rights, the U.S. would have been able to extradite Bankman-Fried immediately. It's unclear now how quickly an extradition could happen.
The court proceedings were still ongoing as of noon.
