Sam Bankman-Fried is an American entrepreneur and former cryptocurrency entrepreneur.
He is the founder of FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange that declared bankruptcy in 2022.
Bankman-Fried has been convicted of fraud in a scheme that cheated customers and investors of at least $10 billion.
He was found guilty on all seven criminal counts against him, including wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering.
Bankman-Fried thought he could get away with stealing billions of dollars from the cryptocurrency exchange’s customers and that the “rules did not apply to him,” according to prosecutors.
He faces up to 110 years in prison and his sentencing is scheduled for March 28, 2024.
Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to two counts of fraud and five counts of conspiracy, but the jury found him guilty on all counts.
Sam Bankman-Fried parents
Bankman-Fried’s parents are Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried.
They have been vocal in their son’s defense during his trial on federal charges of fraud, money laundering and campaign finance violations.
Joseph and Barbara are both faculty members at Stanford Law School and have been known for their involvement in liberal causes.
They have been teaching at Stanford Law School since the late 1980s and have won numerous awards for their scholarship and teaching.
When Bankman-Fried was a child, they recognized him as being intellectually exceptional and emotionally atypical.
They raised their children on utilitarian beliefs, including family discussions about how to do the greatest good for the largest number of people.
They have also worked together on philanthropic ventures that Bankman-Fried funded.
Sam Bankman-Fried parents net worth
At the time of publishing this article, there is no information available on the net worth of Bankman-Fried’s parents.
However, it is known that both of his parents are Stanford Law School professors who were influential in shaping his ethical framework.
They have also been involved in liberal causes and have been known for their involvement in the academic community.
In 2022, Bankman-Fried gifted his parents $10 million in funds from Alameda and the $16.4 million property in the Bahamas.
Additionally, Bankman-Fried’s parents are reportedly listed as signatories on a beach house within the Old Fort Bay gated community in the Bahamas, which is part of a sprawling real estate empire mostly comprised of high-end beachfront properties.
Sam Bankman-Fried education and career
Bankman-Fried graduated from Crystal Springs Uplands School in Hillsborough, California.
He participated in a summer academic program for gifted high school students in mathematics.
Bankman-Fried graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2014 with a degree in physics and a minor in mathematics.
He also has a Master’s Degree in Development Management from the London School of Economics.
In the summer of 2013, Bankman-Fried worked as an intern for New York-based Jane Street Capital, where he returned to the proprietary trading firm as a full-time employee after graduating.
After leaving Jane Street in 2017, he founded Alameda Research, a Hong Kong-based private equity firm, and acted as CEO of that company until 2019.
Bankman-Fried then co-founded FTX Trading Ltd, a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange, and served as its CEO until recently.
He has been known as a philanthropist from early in his career.
Bankman-Fried donated 50 percent of his salary to pro-animal welfare organizations while he was a trader at Jane Street.
He was one of the largest CEO donors to Joe Biden in the 2020 election cycle and has donated significant sums of money to democratic-sided politics.
What is FTX and how did it collapse?
FTX was a Bahamas-based cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2019 by Bankman-Fried.
It became one of the largest digital currency exchange platforms for buying and selling cryptocurrencies, with over one million users.
However, FTX collapsed in November 2022 due to a combination of factors, including mismanagement of funds, lack of liquidity and the mishandling of its token, FTT.
The collapse began with a November 2, 2022, article by CoinDesk revealing potential leverage and solvency concerns involving FTX-affiliated trading firm Alameda Research.
This led to a liquidity crisis and a series of events that ultimately led to the company’s bankruptcy.
On November 6, 2022, rival exchange Binance sold all its FTT tokens.
The following day, FTX announced a liquidity crisis and sought bailout funds from venture capitalists and Binance.
On November 8, 2022, Binance announced its plan to buy FTX’s non-U.S. business but later backed out, and two days later, FTX’s CEO stepped down and the company filed for bankruptcy.
Between November 11 and 17, 2022, FTX officially collapsed, along with its 101 debtors, who were included in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
The bankruptcy of FTX had significant repercussions on the cryptocurrency market, which lost billions at the time, falling below a $1 trillion valuation.
The collapse wiped out millions of customers’ crypto holdings and turned Bankman-Fried into a pariah, now facing criminal fraud charges in the United States.
