Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is purportedly paying for his expensive legal defense using money from a “multi-million-dollar gift” he gave to his father – with funds taken from his doomed
cryptocurrency hedge fund, Alameda Research. Bankman-Fried made the “large monetary gift” in 2021 to his father, longtime Stanford University law professor Joseph Bankman, Forbes reported on Wednesday, citing two sources with operational knowledge of both FTX and Alameda Research. The report alleged that Bankman-Fried secured at least $10 million via a loan from Alameda Research and gave the money to his dad using a “lifetime estate and gift tax exemption.” The sources told the outlet that Bankman-Fried gifted the maximum amount allowable under the exemption, which would have been $11.7 million in 2021. Representatives for Bankman-Fried and his parents did not immediately return The Post’s request for comment. Bankman-Fried is currently under house arrest while awaiting trial his fall on an array of criminal charges related to FTX’s downfall. The feds have accused the 31-year-old executive of using money pilfered from FTX customers to fund a lavish lifestyle and cover risky bets made by Alameda Research.’ Bankman-Fried has assembled a high-powered legal team to fight his case, including Mark Cohen and Christian Everdell, who were part of the legal team that represented convicted sex offender and Jeffrey Epstein companion Ghislaine Maxwell. Both Bankman and his wife, former Stanford law professor Barbara Fried, have received subpoenas for personal records of any financial assets they received from FTX, according to Forbes. Bankman-Fried’s parents put up their mansion collateral to secure his record $250 million bail package. “I’ll be spending substantially all of my resources on Sam’s defense,” Bankman wrote in an email to a
Chicago nonprofit executive last November, according to the
New York Times. In December, the Wall Street Journal reported that the parents “have told
Friends that their son’s legal bills will likely wipe them out financially.” Alameda Research shut down last fall during FTX’s collapse into bankruptcy. The hedge fund was led by CEO Caroline Ellison, Bankman-Fried’s former girlfriend. Ellison is one of multiple members of Bankman-Fried’s inner circle, including former FTX executives Gary Wang and Nishad Singh, who have pleaded guilty to charges and cooperated with prosecutors. Bankman-Fried has been cagey about his own finances since FTX’s collapse. In November, the former crypto kingpin claimed to have just $100,000 left in his bank account . Bankman-Fried’s legal team has also pushed the court to allow him to use his $460 million stake in retail investment platform Robinhood to pay for his legal defense . That’s despite allegations that Bankman-Fried used money taken from Alameda to buy the stake.