On the fourth of January, Bankman-Fried entered a plea of not guilty to all charges brought against him in connection with the breakdown of the cryptocurrency exchange. Since the twenty-second of December, he has been confined to his parent’s residence in California under house arrest.
The new administration of FTX is looking to recoup millions of dollars in donations granted by the crypto exchange and its former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, according to the Wall Street Journal.
At the close of September, the charity organization of FTX, the Future Fund, had devoted over $160 million to more than 110 non-profit organizations, including biotechnology start-ups and university researchers researching Covid-19 vaccines and investigating pandemic issues, in addition to non-profit organizations in India, China, and Brazil.
A spokesperson for Bankman-Fried declared that contributions were not taken from customer deposits but from trading profits. The charity was unveiled in February 2022, planning to disperse more than $100 million in its first year and up to $1 billion in donations. Despite the fall in crypto prices, donations were maintained.
FTX’s donations to political parties and candidates are also being looked into by the US prosecutors. Clawback stipulations could oblige businesses and investors to return billions of dollars that were paid before the crypto exchange’s downfall, Cointelegraph reported.
FTX’s new leadership has said that “a number of recipients of gifts or other payments” have reached out to the company to return the funds. On Jan. 4, Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to all criminal charges related to the collapse of the crypto exchange, such as wire fraud, securities fraud, and campaign finance violations.
Since Dec. 22, he has been under house arrest at his parents’ residence in California.