Little was known of who is cryptocurrency entrepreneur or fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried till he surfaced in the news recently. Wikipedia has given him both title and yet little is known about the crypto entrepreneur who has become notorious for the crypto entrepreneur indicted with atleast seven charges. He has been charged for using stolen funds in campaign contributions.
Interestingly, the cryptocurrency entrepreneur has shown a tremendous amount of self-confidence amidst a serious legal battle. He engaged with the outside world regularly while under house arrest. He lived a relatively comfortable life until now even in such conditions.
So, who is Sam Bankman-Fried?
Sam Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF, was born on 6th March 1992 in Stanford, California (USA). He is the founder and former CEO (2019-2022) of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX Trading Ltd. This exchange became the second largest of its type which made Bankman-Fried a powerful and well-known figure within the digital assets market. His net worth was estimated at more than $26 billion.
FTX Trading had close ties with the quantitative trading firm Alameda Research LLC. This firm was co-founded by Sam in 2017. The cryptocurrency exchange suddenly collapsed in November 2022 when it was revealed that broad mismanagement at both Alameda Research and FTX led to a run, on customer deposits. Soon after, Bankman-Fried resigned from FTX and the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on 11th November 2022.
Early life, education, and career
Bankman-Fried was born to Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, both scholars of tax law and professors at Stanford Law School. He studied at Crystal Springs Uplands School in Hillsborough, California. Sam graduated from MIT with a degree in Physics and a minor in Mathematics in 2014. He worked for New York-based Jane Street Capital as an intern in the summer of 2013. He returned to the same company as a full-time employee after his graduation.
What is Sam Bankman-Fried known for?
He is alleged to have committed the biggest cryptocurrency fraud in American history. His net worth toppled down to roughly $16 billion and then to nearly $ 0 in just a week in November 2022. Sam told the New York Times that he had about $100,000 in his account during an interview on 30th November at the DealBook Summit.
Federal prosecutors have charged him with multiple instances of fraud. Sam was extradited to the USA from the Bahamas in December 2021. He then appeared for a court hearing before a federal judge on December 2022. The court released him on a whopping $ 250 million bond, the largest in history.
It is unlikely that consumers and investors of FTX would recover the funds lost due to the illegal cryptocurrency practices of the company. Both Bankman-Fried and FTX are likely targets of several lawsuits and bankruptcy proceedings in the future. The allegations of fraud along with cover-up of financial troubles and huge losses incurred by customers and investors could plague Sam for years and may lead to a stiff prison sentence as well.
A lot has been written about being safe online and in safely trading cryptocurrency. However, there is still a lot of misinformation out there on the best practices to engaging in trading online currencies.
