FTX Wants to Question Bankman-Fried’s Family on their Fortune as they Prove Uncooperative

• The leadership of FTX has requested permission from the judge to question the family under oath about their wealth.
• The court document has requested that SBF’s family provide documents of any money they have received from the crypto exchange.
• The filing comes after SBF’s mother and brother proved uncooperative when questioned by FTX’s lawyers.

In a court filing, FTX’s lawyers have disclosed that they need to question Bankman-Fried’s family under oath to ascertain if they received any funds from the bankrupt crypto exchange.

The filing is part of the interim executive’s mission to recover funds lost in the collapse of the crypto exchange that could potentially be used to pay back creditors and users.

The filing also wants Bankman-Fried’s family to provide financial documents about their personal wealth. However, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey must approve the request before they can proceed with any questioning.

The Family’s Relationship with FTX 

Although it has not been expressly proven that Bankman-Fried’s family received funds from the exchange, they were involved in running the exchange.

His father, Joseph Bankman, a Stanford law professor, reportedly gave tax advice to FTX staffers and helped recruit the company’s lawyers. His mother, Barbara Fried, founded a political action committee that took money from FTX.

According to the filing, his brother Gabriel Bankman-Fried founded an organization to lobby members of the U.S. Congress from a multimillion-dollar property near the U.S. Capitol.

Bankman-Fried’s parents also signed his $250 million bond for his bail. His parent’s home reportedly secures the bond. However, it does not mean that the home’s value correlates to the bail amount’s value.

SBF’s Family Has Been Uncooperative

The filing notes that Barbara Fried “has ignored the requests altogether” despite requests to cooperate voluntarily. It adds that they have not received meaningful engagement or any response from his brother.

On the other hand, his father has been discussing with lawyers who expect to reach a consensual outcome, the filing said.

Advisors or Accomplices?

After Bankman-Fried’s arrest, it was revealed that his parents’ $16.4 million home in the Bahamas was meant for FTX staff. 

With Bankman-Fried now at his parent’s $4 million home in California, it begs the question of how deep their fortunes ran into the now bankruptcy crypto exchange.

And with his brother, mother, and father recorded as his “advisors,” the filing argues that they should be subpoenaed alongside Bankman-Fried.

The request will be discussed at a February 8th hearing in the U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware.

On the Flipside

• Despite the multiple counts of fraud, SBF pleaded not guilty to claims that he took customer deposits at FTX to fund his other firm, Alameda Research.

Why You Should Care

The filing continues the push from the new FTX executives to uncover what happened to allegedly misappropriated customers’ funds at FTX.

Get the details of affected FTX creditors in:
FTX’s Huge Creditor List Includes Some of SBF’s Close Partners

Read about the FTX recovery attempt below:
FTX Recovers $5 billion in Liquid Assets to Repay Customers, But Extent of Loss Still Unknown