Dec 22 (Reuters) – FTX founder and former Chief Government Sam Bankman-Fried, who faces U.S. fraud expenses over the collapse of FTX, ran his crypto empire with various associates.
Two of these are cooperating with federal prosecutors.
This is a who’s who of one-time high officers at Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire:
CAROLINE ELLISON
Caroline Ellison, former CEO of Alameda Analysis, pleaded responsible to defrauding buyers in FTX and is cooperating with investigators, in accordance with a prosecutors’ assertion on Wednesday.
Ellison, 28, grew up in Massachusetts, the place each of her dad and mom are economics professors on the Massachusetts Institute of Expertise.
She started her profession at quantitative buying and selling agency Jane Avenue after graduating from Stanford College with a level in arithmetic in 2016, she mentioned on a now-offline FTX podcast from July 2020. A couple of yr and a half into that function, Ellison met Bankman-Fried for espresso whereas visiting the Bay Space, the place he first advised her about Alameda Analysis, in accordance with the podcast.
She joined the agency as a dealer in 2018 and have become co-CEO with Sam Trabucco in October 2021, later turning into the corporate’s sole CEO.
In a Dec. 1 Twitter Areas occasion, Bankman-Fried acknowledged that he and Ellison had “been collectively for some time,” however declined to present extra particulars.
Ellison has mentioned she believes in efficient altruism, a philanthropic motion common amongst Silicon Valley executives.
Ellison didn’t reply to telephone calls or an emailed request for remark.
GARY WANG
Gary Wang co-founded FTX and Alameda Analysis with Bankman-Fried, and served as FTX’s chief know-how officer. He and Bankman-Fried met at a math camp in highschool and have become school roommates, Bankman-Fried wrote in a now-unavailable FTX weblog.
Wang labored as a software program engineer at Google earlier than co-founding FTX and Alameda, in accordance with an archived webpage for the FTX Future Fund, the corporate’s charitable effort.
In April, Forbes estimated his web price at $5.9 billion.
“Gary has accepted accountability for his actions and takes significantly his obligations as a cooperating witness,” Ilan Graff, a lawyer for Wang, mentioned in an announcement on Wednesday. Graff declined to remark additional on Thursday.
NISHAD SINGH
Nishad Singh was a finest pal of Bankman-Fried’s brother in highschool, Bankman-Fried wrote within the deleted weblog submit. After working for a interval at Alameda Analysis, Singh grew to become FTX’s director of engineering in 2019, in accordance with CNBC.
Singh contributed greater than $8 million to political campaigns within the 2022 election cycle, all to Democrats, in accordance with OpenSecrets.
He didn’t reply to an emailed request for remark.
SAM TRABUCCO
Sam Trabucco, the previous co-CEO of Alameda Analysis who stepped down in August however remained as an advisor, met Bankman-Fried in 2010 at a five-week math camp at Mount Holyoke School, in accordance with Insider.
Trabucco graduated from MIT in 2015 with a level in math and laptop science, in accordance with an web archive of Alameda’s web site. Earlier than becoming a member of Alameda, he labored as a dealer at Susquehanna Worldwide Group’s bond ETF desk.
Trabucco didn’t reply to an e-mail or a Twitter message requesting remark.
DAN FRIEDBERG
Dan Friedberg, former chief regulatory officer at FTX, was the crypto alternate’s “authorized advisor from the very starting,” Bankman-Fried wrote within the deleted weblog submit.
Friedberg is a lawyer who additionally served because the authorized counsel for each FTX and Alameda at occasions.
He didn’t reply to an emailed request for remark.
RYAN SALAME
Ryan Salame, the co-CEO of FTX’s Bahamian subsidiary, labored for Ernst & Younger and Circle Web Monetary earlier than becoming a member of FTX Digital Markets in 2021, in accordance with a profile on the College of Massachusetts Amherst’s web site, the place he established a scholarship fund.
Salame was one of many high political donors within the 2022 election cycle donating greater than $23 million to Republican campaigns, in accordance with OpenSecrets.
Days earlier than FTX filed for chapter and Bankman-Fried stepped down as CEO, Salame knowledgeable the Securities Fee of the Bahamas that shopper property held at FTX Digital Markets might have been transferred to Alameda, in accordance with a courtroom submitting Wednesday by the company.
Salame didn’t reply to a telephone name or a LinkedIn message requesting remark.
Reporting by Hannah Lang in Washington and John McCrank in New York; further reporting by Angus Berwick in London; enhancing by Megan Davies and Richard Chang
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