FTX Founder Reportedly Cashed Out USD 684K After Being Released On Bail

FTX Founder Reportedly Cashed Out USD 684K after Being Released on Bail

The disgraced co-founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), may have cashed out USD 684,000 in crypto assets after being released on bail, according to a Twitter thread shared by an analyst on December 29, 2022. The former FTX executive is not allowed to spend more than USD 1,000 without permission from the court. If the funds were spent by SBF, it goes against the court’s release conditions and can be considered contempt of court.

Analyst Discovers Fund Movement Tied to SBF and Alameda's Wallets

The analyst named "Bowtiediguana" published a Twitter thread on Thursday that reveals Sam Bankman-Fried may have spent USD 684K after he was released on bail. Bowtiediguana shares details, saying that in August 2020, SBF agreed to temporarily take over the decentralized exchange (DEX) Sushiswap after the anonymous founder Chef Nomi decided to leave. When the deal was made, SBF shared a public Ethereum address, and Chef Nomi transferred ownership of Sushiswap to SBF’s address.

"After SBF was released, his wallet sent all its remaining crypto tokens to a new Ethereum address created an hour earlier," Bowtiediguana tweeted. "In 3 hours, over 100 new deposits were transferred to the new wallet from various addresses, most having links to SBF's defunct hedge fund, Alameda Research." The analyst continued:

"In less than four hours, 570 ether worth approximately USD 684,000 was transferred out of the new wallet to various destinations. Funds were sent to a no-KYC exchange based in Seychelles and to the Bitcoin network via the Ren Protocol, a bridge funded by Alameda. Perhaps the SEC's lawyers should take note of this."

The address in question is this Ethereum address, "which received a further USD 1 million from 11 wallets labeled as Alameda Research," Bowtiediguana said. "Five separate transactions of 51 ETH were used to move funds to newly created wallets and then onwards to a Seychelles-based exchange. Three tranches of 200K USDT were also sent from the SBF-linked wallet to the FixedFloat exchange," the analyst added.

Bowtiediguana’s thread shows that an individual decided to email the information to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about the latest on-chain movements. Others in the thread referred to the US regulator, writing, "@secgov u gave [SBF] 2 long leash sires. Please address this criminal." It needs to be confirmed why he moved the funds, but many are speculating that it was SBF.

Repeated Movement of FTX and Alameda-Related Funds

Since SBF’s arrest and his later release, FTX and Alameda-related funds have been moving, and transfers have been noticed by on-chain investigators. Funds linked to Alameda were transferred two days ago, and reportedly they were sent to FixedFloat and ChangeNow and further converted into BTC. In another instance, an Alameda-labeled wallet sent 11.37 wrapped bitcoin (WBTC) to a wallet after removing it from Aave on December 29.

Another Alameda-labeled wallet sent 22,500 USDC on December 29. Both transactions were done after a large swath of ERC-20 tokens linked to Alameda were moved on Wednesday, Dec. 28.

What is your take on the on-chain movements noticed by the analyst? Please post your comments.