Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, will remain in jail ahead of his 3 October trial, a court has ruled.

Bankman-Fried is facing seven charges of fraud and conspiracy over his involvement in FTX, which collapsed in late 2022.

He has since been accused of using FTX client funds to cut down on losses at Alameda Research, a sister company Bankman-Fried founded which has since also filed for bankruptcy.

Bankman-Fried has pled not guilty to the charges against him.

Once the world’s second largest crypto exchange, FTX filed for bankruptcy after $1 billion in client funds disappeared.

The collapse was precipitated after reports emerged suggesting the foundation of FTX was less financially secure than previously thought. This effectively led to the crypto equivalent of a bank run, with investors withdrawing more than $6 billion in under 72 hours.

At the time, Securities Commission of the Bahamas confirmed that it had suspended its business while also appointing a liquidator: “The powers of the directors of FDM have been suspended and no assets of FDM, client assets or trust assets held by FDM, can be transferred, assigned or otherwise dealt with, without the written approval of the provisional liquidator.”

As it continued to flail, rival exchange Binance agreed a non-binding deal to acquire FTX but pulled out less than a day later after doing its due diligence.

Share Story: