Lawsuit: Sam Bankman-Fried’s Parents ‘Exploited Their Access and Influence’ to Make Big Money from FTX

Several friends of Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents said that they have yet to see them express any regrets about their actions after Bankman-Fried was convicted and as they face an upcoming trial for “fraudulently” transferring and misappropriating millions of dollars from FTX.

Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried have maintained their son’s innocence and are helping formulate the grounds for an appeal. In early November, jurors convicted Sam Bankman-Fried of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy.

Bankman and Fried’s own involvement with FTX, and the perks they received before the digital currency platform went bankrupt, have also opened them up to a civil trial filed by the bankrupt company.

FTX has sued Bankman-Fried’s parents to recover the millions of dollars they received. The lawsuit claims that Fried and Bankman “fraudulently transferred and misappropriated funds,” and also alleges that Bankman-Fried’s mother helped him direct millions of dollars of political donations.

FTX claims that Bankman and Fried, both Stanford Law School professors, “exploited their access and influence within the FTX enterprise to enrich themselves.”

The parents’ lawyers said that the allegations are “completely false” and a “dangerous attempt to intimidate Joe and Barbara.”

Several friends have said that Bankman and Fried have not expressed any regrets about their actions.

Bankman became a key figure in his son’s growing digital currency company:

Bankman became a key decision maker, FTX said, managing tax issues and advising on job hires. He was supposed to be the adult in the room at a company populated with young high achievers.

FTX agreed to pay Bankman a $200,000 annual salary, according to the lawsuit, and in early 2022 he lobbied for more. Bankman-Fried sent his parents $10 million shortly afterward.

“We are so touched by this gift,” Bankman wrote to his son, according to the lawsuit. “Mom is announcing retirement, which she would not have done otherwise.” [Emphasis added]

Bankman even appeared in a cameo in FTX’s Super Bowl ad starring comedian and Seinfeild co-creator Larry David:

The FTX lawsuit said that the company bought Bankman and Fried a $16.4 million house in a gated community near the FTX’s headquarters in the Bahamas. Both of their names were on the deed.

A spokeswoman for the two claimed that the house was “temporary housing” while Bankman worked in the Bahamas.

Breitbart News reported that Bankman served on the board of the shadowy Arabella Advisors, a major leftist dark money group:

A lawsuit found that Sam Bankman-Fried’s father sits on the advisory board of the leftist dark money group Arabella Advisors.

Arabella Advisors is a for-profit consultancy group that manages leftist nonprofit groups that sponsor entities that do not have to disclose their donors. Political groups that do not disclose their donors are commonly referred to as “dark money groups.”

A New York Times analysis of the 2020 elections found that Democrats benefitted from $1.5 billion, while Republicans benefitted from $900 million in dark money.

Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.