FTX founder ‘orchestrated years-long fraud,’ SEC says

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Sam Bankman-Fried on Tuesday with defrauding investors and customers in his failed crypto exchange FTX.

The SEC said Bankman-Fried, “orchestrated a years-long fraud” to conceal from FTX investors the diversion of customer funds to Alameda Research, his crypto trading firm.

“We allege that Sam Bankman-Fried built a house of cards on a foundation of deception while telling investors that it was one of the safest buildings in crypto,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a statement.

Regulators signaled this may be just the first of multiple charges to come. The SEC said there are ongoing investigations into “other securities law violations” and into other entities and individuals. The agency added that another regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is also charging Bankman-Fried.

Bankman-Fried’s lawyer was not immediately available for comment.