188 Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, has been charged with stealing billions of dollars in customer funds to cover losses at his hedge fund, Alameda Research. The collapse of FTX has been described by a US prosecutor as a “fraud of epic proportions.” Bankman-Fried was released on a $250 million bond package and has not yet entered a plea. He has previously admitted to risk-management failures at FTX but denies criminal liability. His defence lawyer declined to comment after the hearing in a Manhattan federal court. Just hours after Bankman-Fried’s plane from the Bahamas took off, Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, announced that two of Bankman-Fried’s closest associates – former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang – had pleaded guilty and were cooperating with prosecutors. You Might Be Interested In Venture Capitalists Shift Focus to Startups’ Profitability Path GE Aerospace Takes Flight as Independent Public Company Post GE Vernova Spin-Off Meta Enhances AI Image Generation for Ads Air New Zealand Collaborates with Elon Musk’s Starlink to Transform Domestic Travel with In-Flight Internet Shell Anticipates Asian Markets Driving LNG Demand Growth How BRI embraced ESG and DEI while serving Indonesia’s unbanked population