Imprisoned FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has agreed to cooperate against other defendants in FTX civil litigation.
The disgraced former crypto executive has faced civil litigation in Southern Florida from a patchwork of plaintiffs seeking to recover losses related to FTX’s collapse and subsequent bankruptcy in November 2022.
A new document filed on Friday indicates Bankman-Fried has reached a settlement with the complainants that stipulates he will “reasonably cooperate” with the plaintiffs’ lawyers to help aid in victim recovery from other defendants in the case.
Other defendants include celebrities and athletes that endorsed or worked with FTX, including retired NFL quarterback Tom Brady, Brady’s ex-wife and model Gisele Bündchen, retired NBA basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, active NBA player Stephen Curry, MLB pitcher Shohei Ohtani, Shark Tank star and investor Kevin O’Leary and active NFL quarterback Trevor Lawrence, among others.
Bankman-Fried’s settlement is subject to approval from the District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
FTX imploded and filed for bankruptcy in November 2022 amid accusations that Bankman-Fried mishandled the exchange’s funds by loaning out billions of dollars worth of customer deposits to Alameda Research, the firm’s trading arm.
The exchange’s multi-billion dollar collapse led to a sharp downtick in crypto prices, and US federal authorities arrested Bankman-Fried the following month.
Last November, a US jury found the former FTX chief executive guilty of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud against FTX’s customers, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud against Alameda’s lenders, conspiracy to commit securities fraud against FTX’s investors, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud against FTX’s customers and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
On March 28th, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan sentenced Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison and three years of supervised release. He also ordered the 32-year-old to pay $11 billion in forfeiture. Bankman-Fried is appealing his conviction and sentence.
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