Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was released on $250 million bail, secured by his parents house in Palo Alto.
According to a report from CoinDesk, Bankman-Fried appeared before US Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein in a Manhattan federal court on Thursday. The judge declared that Bankman-Fried did not pose a danger to the public in terms of future financial crimes and had a low risk of fleeing.
The FTX founder was released after agreeing to pay a bail package of $250 million in the form of a bond, secured by his parents Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried’s home in California. Bankman-Fried has been condemned to house arrest at his parents’ house and ordered to go through substance-abuse and mental-health treatment, as per the agreement.
Bankman-Fried faces a host of charges from the Department of Justice, as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission. His legal case could be considerably weakened after potentially damaging testimony from his former inner circle.
Earlier in the day, Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang entered a plea deal to cooperate with prosecutors. Both Ellison and Wang were close associates of Bankman-Fried and pleaded guilty to their roles in the fraud that contributed to FTX’s collapse. The pair also settled with the SEC on civil charges related to securities violations filed separately.
Ellison’s plea deal in particular stipulates that she won’t face further criminal prosecution, aside from tax violations related to the wire fraud and commodity fraud charges, if she fully cooperates with the U.S. Attorney’s office. Ellison was previously in a relationship with Bankman-Fried.
