Even if under house arrest and monitored by the police, Sam Bankman-Fried is still capable of making headlines. For instance, he’s now being suspected of moving funds from one of his now-defunct companies.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of FTX, turned to social media this week to deny his involvement in a flurry of strange transfers and token exchanges from wallets associated with Alameda Research.
To counter claims that he has been taking money out of Alameda wallets, he stated he’s not the one making the transactions.
“I’m not and couldn’t be moving any of those funds; I don’t have access to them anymore.”
Along with sister company FTX, Alameda Research is the cryptocurrency trading firm that went belly up in November.
None of these are me. I’m not and couldn’t be moving any of those funds; I don’t have access to them anymore.https://t.co/5Gkin30Ny5
— SBF (@SBF_FTX) December 30, 2022
Is Sam Bankman-Fried The One Moving The Funds?
A few days after Bankman-Fried was released on a $250 million bond, it was observed that the crypto wallets associated with the insolvent Alameda were moving funds using coin mixers to camouflage transactions.
During the previous few days, blockchain researchers have been monitoring the flow of funds that appear to be related with digital wallets belonging to Sam Bankman-Fried.
According to data tracker Arkham Intelligence, the amount of these transactions exceeds $1 million.
This week, more than $1.7 million worth of cryptocurrency held in wallets associated with Alameda Research was transferred via exchanges and coin mixers.
A report indicates that a wallet address beginning with 0x64e9 received over 600 Ether (ETH) from Alameda-owned wallets. On-chain transactional data reveal that a portion of the funds were exchanged for USDT while the remainder was routed to a mixing service.
Meanwhile, other charges surfaced saying that Bankman-Fried conducted new transactions via which he ultimately cashed out about $700,00 worth of cryptocurrency.
Federal Prosecutors Expected To Investigate
Bloomberg reports that these unusual transactions have caught the attention of federal prosecutors in the United States, who plan to launch an inquiry.
Authorities in the Southern District of New York, who only last month filed criminal charges against Bankman-Fried for his involvement in the collapse of FTX, are trying to figure out who is handling the assets in question.
Crypto total market cap at $764 billion on the daily chart | Chart: TradingView.com
Every day, the never-ending FTX controversy takes a new turn, and the most recent transfer of assets to scavenge whatever is left in those cryptocurrency wallets is concerning for the community.
The terms of Sam Bankman-Fried’s bail prohibit him from engaging in financial transactions over $1,000 without the court’s permission.
Bloomberg claimed that around $372 million worth of tokens were taken from the exchange hours after FTX filed for bankruptcy on November 11, citing bankruptcy records.
Sam Bankman-Fried, known as the “King Of Crypto,” has claimed that he has approximately $100,000 left in his bank account, despite previously being described as a billionaire.
He is currently under house arrest at his parents’ home in California with an electronic monitor strapped around his ankle.
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Featured image: Euronews
