A recent report by BusinessWeek has sent shockwaves through the crypto community, alleging that Barbara Fried and Joseph Bankman, parents of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, not only raised criminals but actively participated in running FTX and benefited from fraudulent activities.
The report suggests that they were regular visitors to the company’s offices, had access to crucial emails, and, most significantly, used their influence to open doors in Silicon Valley and Democratic power circles for their son. The couple reportedly acquired a lavish $16 million villa in the Bahamas and $10 million in cash, expenses allegedly covered by FTX customers. The BusinessWeek article not only criticized Bankman-Fried’s parents but also took a jab at Stanford University’s community.
Pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton expressed his concerns, stating that the Department of Justice (DOJ) appears compromised, much like the SEC and other federal agencies, and requires a thorough overhaul.
Deaton pointed out that if SBF’s parents didn’t have connections to people like Senator Elizabeth Warren and weren’t big donors to the Democratic Party (with SBF’s mom running a PAC), they might have already faced legal trouble.
He wrote on X, “The DOJ is compromised and, like the SEC, as well as almost every other federal agency, needs to be cleaned out and reshaped. Make no mistake about it, if SBFraud’s parents weren’t connected to @ewarren and weren’t huge donors to the Democratic Party (SBF’s mom runs a PAC), they would’ve been arrested by now.”
In a recent development, FTX has been given the go-ahead by a U.S. court to turn its cryptocurrency assets into cash to pay off its debts. This means FTX, which is going through bankruptcy, can sell its cryptocurrency holdings, which are worth more than $3.4 billion, and also use them for activities like staking and hedging.
