- The DOJ claims the leaked writings could discredit the witness in the FTX case.
- Ellison pleaded guilty in December to charges related to the collapse of FTX.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has accused the Founder and former CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, of leaking the private diary of Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of the exchange’s hedge fund company Alameda Research.
In a court filing on July 20, the DOJ faulted SBF for sharing the personal writing of Ellisson with the New York Times, saying the move was likely to discredit the court’s proceedings. SBF and the former executives of FTX are facing charges for allegedly misappropriating customers’ funds leading to the bankruptcy of the crypto exchange.
Ellison, a crucial witness against SBF, pleaded guilty in December to some of the charges related to the collapse of FTX. Alongside Gary Wang, FTX’s former Chief Technology Officer, Ellison admitted that she violated securities laws and actively defrauded the exchange’s customers.
Additionally, Ellison admitted that she knew the former executive team at FTX was breaking federal laws in transferring customers’ money from the exchange to the hedge fund.
Similarly, Nishad Singh, the former Engineering Director at FTX and one of the exchange’s founders pleaded guilty in March to accusations against him about FTX’s collapse, including the conspiracy to commit money laundering. However, SBF has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him.
FTX Sues Bankman-Fried
DOJ’s accusations arrived after the FTX’s lawyers sued SBF to recover USD 1 billion. The lawsuit, which mentioned Ellison, Wang, and Singh as defendants, accused the former executives of the exchange of allegedly using customers’ funds to fund political parties, acquire luxurious real estate properties, and invest in speculative trading.
FTX’s lawyers plan to recover more than USD 70 million invested by the defunct exchange in life science companies and USD 323 million paid to the leadership of the exchange’s European subsidiary, FTX Europe, according to a court filing seen by CoinDesk. In an investigative report released in June, the FTX bankruptcy team reported that it had recovered about USD 7 billion out of USD 8.7 billion owed to FTX’s customers.
