The former entourage of arrested crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried faces further indictments from key US government agencies.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have filed new allegations of fraud against former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and former FTX co-founder Gary Wang.
The new indictments from the SEC and CFTC come as the couple plead guilty to federal fraud charges filed by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) on Dec. 22.
The SEC states that Ellison and Wang have been indicted for their roles in the “multi-year plan to defraud stock investors in FTX,” while the SEC is also investigating whether other securities laws were violated as well.
The SEC alleges that Ellison, led by former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, promoted the program by manipulating the price of FTX tokens
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, which is described in the document as a crypto security token. The manipulation in question was carried out by “buying large quantities on the open market to prop up the price”, which came into effect between 2019 and 2022.
As for the CFTC’s indictments, amendments were made to the December 13 fraud complaint against Samuel Bankman-Fried, FTX Trading and Alameda Research to now include Ellison and Wang as named defendants.
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is handcuffed en route to the delivery airport. Source: Royal Bahamas Police
The amended complaint now alleges Ellison “fraud and material misrepresentation in connection with the sale of digital asset commodities in interstate commerce.” As for Wang, the former FTX executive was charged with “fraud related to the sale of digital assets in interstate commerce.”
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Regarding the conduct that led to the indictments, both the SEC and CFTC allege that Wang created FTX’s software code that allowed Alameda to divert client funds from FTX, which then enabled Ellison to use those funds for the Alameda’s abusive commercial activities.
Related: SBF signs extradition papers to face retrial in US
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has also reportedly landed in the US after being extradited from the Bahamas over US government fraud allegations. The indictment against SBF is signed by US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams and contains eight counts.
SBF is being indicted by the Justice Department along with the SEC and CFTC for fraud against investors and lenders. Royal Bahamas police arrested the former crypto billionaire on Dec. 12, and his initial bail request was denied by a Bahamian court.
