Stanford University Says It Will Return All of Sam Bankman-Fried’s Donations: Bloomberg

Stanford University will reportedly return millions of dollars worth of gifts it received from bankrupt crypto exchange platform FTX.

According to a new report by Bloomberg, a spokesperson for Stanford says that the California university will be returning the donated money in its entirety so those affected by the downfall of FTX can recover their funds.

As stated by the spokesperson in an email to Bloomberg,

“We have been in discussions with attorneys for the FTX debtors to recover these gifts and we will be returning the funds in their entirety.”

The spokesperson said that most of the donations were made for “pandemic-related prevention and research” from FTX or FTX-related entities.

The news comes after the estate of FTX filed a lawsuit against the parents of its former chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried, both legal scholars and professors at Stanford University, alleging that they used their influence to “enrich themselves, directly and indirectly, by millions of dollars.”

FTX initially filed for bankruptcy in November 2022. Its disgraced founder, Bankman-Fried, is currently awaiting his trial which is set to kick off in October. He’s accused of defrauding investors and mishandling billions of dollars worth of customer funds. If convicted, he faces decades behind bars.

He’s also accused of allegedly using $100 million worth of stolen funds to make illegal campaign donations to both Democrats and Republicans before the 2022 midterm elections while evading contribution limits.

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