Criminal Charges Against Sam Bankman-Fried Revealed

Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder and former CEO of FTX, is facing numerous federal felonies for alleged financial crimes related to the collapse of the company.

The disheveled 30-year-old was arrested Monday night by authorities in the Bahamas after they received word from U.S. officials that charges had been filed against Bankman-Fried and that the U.S. would soon seek extradition.

The New York Times reported that Bankman-Fried is facing charges of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy, and money laundering.

The charges are contained in a sealed indictment from the prosecutors for the Southern District of New York.

U.S. Attorney Damian Willams said in a statement, “Earlier this evening, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the U.S. Government, based on a sealed indictment filed by the SDNY.”

“We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time,” Williams added.

Reuters reported that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also authorized charges against Bankman-Fried.

“The Securities and Exchange Commission has separately authorized charges relating to Mr. Bankman-Fried’s violations of our securities laws, which will be filed publicly tomorrow in the Southern District of New York,” SEC official Gurbir Grewal said in a statement.

FTX, which is headquartered in the Bahamas, was launched in 2019 and had accrued more than one million users by 2022. Users suddenly demanded $6 billion in withdrawals after an article published by CoinDesk revealed last month that the two arms of Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency empire, FTX and Alameda Research, had significant overlap on their balance sheets in the form of the cryptocurrency FTT, which FTX invented. Rival firm Binance, which had been planning to purchase FTX, announced that it would discharge all holdings in the coin and eventually reversed course on the acquisition.

After the company collapsed, Bankman-Fried went from boasting a $15.6 billion net worth to having “no material wealth” over the span of approximately two days.

Bankman-Fried was the second largest donor for Democrats this last election cycle, only behind megadonor George Soros, giving at least $38 million to leftist causes, PACs, and candidates, Fox News reported.

Politico reported that Bankman-Fried was a top resource to whom Democrats went when lawmakers began looking at ways to regulate cryptocurrencies because of “his willingness to write multimillion dollar checks to boost Democrats.”

Related: FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried: ‘I Didn’t Ever Try To Commit Fraud On Anyone’

BREAKING: Biden Official Sam Brinton Out Of A Job After Multiple Alleged Luggage Thefts At Airports

A controversial figure in the Biden administration is reportedly out of the job after being accused of stealing luggage in two separate incidents.

The Department of Energy is no longer employing Sam Brinton, who claims he is non-binary, after he was accused of stealing luggage in Las Vegas and Minneapolis.

“Sam Brinton is no longer a DOE employee,” a Department of Energy said in a statement. “By law, the Department of Energy cannot comment further on personnel matters.”

An arrest warrant was issued for Brinton late last week for grand larceny with a value between $1,200 and $5,000 for allegedly stealing luggage from Harry Reid International Airport.

Investigators said that “a white male adult wearing a white T-shirt with a large rainbow colored atomic nuclear symbol design” was seen on security camera footage taking the woman’s bag before leaving the airport.

“Brinton demonstrated several signs of abnormal behavior while taking the victim’s luggage which are cues suspects typically give off when committing luggage theft,” investigators in Las Vegas wrote in their report. “Specifically, Brinton pulled the victim’s luggage from the carousel and examined the tag.”

“Then placing it back on the carousel, looking in all directions for anyone who might be watching, or might approach,” the report continued. “Pulling it back off the carousel and demonstrating the same behavior by looking around before walking away with it quickly. Brinton only having checked one piece of luggage, which Brinton had already claimed from the carousel, had no reason to be examining and taking any other pieces of luggage.”

Brinton, who has caused a stir among Americans in his role in the federal government for dressing in drag and boasting online about his puppy role-play fetish, came under fire late last month for allegedly stealing a woman’s luggage in Minneapolis.

He reportedly flew into MSP with American Airlines just before 4:30 p.m. from Washington, D.C. According to the complaint, Brinton traveled without a checked bag, indicating he had no purpose to claim a bag after landing.

The complaint alleges Brinton left the airport in an Uber and checked into the InterContinental St. Paul Riverfront hotel with the blue bag.

Brinton returned to MSP two days later, on September 18, and flew back to Washington, D.C., with the same bag.

Records and video surveillance showed the suitcase belonged to a female passenger who flew into the MSP on a Delta flight from New Orleans. According to a report, she notified law enforcement that her bag and the contents inside — valued at around $2,325 — had gone missing in the baggage claim area on the same day Brinton allegedly took the luggage.

Nearly three weeks later, the criminal complaint alleges, video surveillance footage from Dulles International Airport in Virginia captured Brinton returning from Europe with the bag on October 9.

Authorities contacted Brinton that same day, asking if he “took anything that did not belong” to him.

“Not that I know of,” Brinton allegedly responded, but later admitted he took the bag.

“If I had taken the wrong bag, I am happy to return it, but I don’t have any clothes for another individual. That was my clothes when I opened the bag,” he told police, according to the complaint.

He allegedly called authorities two hours later and apologized for not being “completely honest,” adding he took the bag thinking it was his in a state of exhaustion. The complaint also alleges Brinton realized it wasn’t his bag after opening it up at the hotel, at which point he “got nervous” and “didn’t know what to do.”

The charges that Brinton faces in both states are felonies. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine in Nevada, and five years in prison and a $10,000 fine in Minnesota.