Sam Bankman-Fried’s father Joe Bankman MOANED about being paid $200,000-a-year salary and expected $1 million as FTX accuses him and wife of siphoning $10 million from the company
- Joe Bankman, 68, complained his salary from bust crypto exchange platform FTX was a fifth of what he expected, lawsuit claims
- He asked his wife Barbara Fried to ‘lobby’ their son to increase salary, lawyers say
- Within months they were allegedly gifted $10M and a $16.4M Bahamas home
Sam Bankman-Fried’s father whined that his $200,000 salary from his son’s now-bankrupt crypto platform was a fraction of the $1 million he was expecting, according to court documents.
Details of Joe Bankman’s complaint were outlined in a Delaware lawsuit which claims he and his partner Barbara Fried used their influence at FTX to enrich themselves to the tune of millions of dollars.
Joe, 68, is said to have emailed FTX in January 2022 to complain his salary was a fifth of what he was expecting.
The Stanford University law professor moaned he was being paid around $16,500 a month, when he anticipated $80,000.
He took his gripe to his son, before looping in his mother and telling him: ‘Gee Sam, I don’t know what to say here. This is the first [I] have heard of the 200K a year salary! Putting Barbara on this.’
Joe Bankman is a tax law professor at the University of Stanford and was a formal employee of FTX prior to its collapse.
Weeks later, the couple were gifted $10 million by Alameda Research, FTX’s sister hedge fund, also founded by their son, according to the suit, while within three months they were handed the deed to a $16.4 million home in the Bahamas.
Lawyers claim that Joe essentially used fellow Stanford University Law Professor Barbara, 71, to ‘lobby’ their son to increase their salaries.
Barbara is also accused of helping her son ‘avoid if not violate federal campaign finance disclosure rules’ around his political donations.
Meanwhile Joe allegedly siphoned $5.5 million in donations to Stanford University in order to ‘curry favor’ with his employer, whilst ‘showering’ his family and friends with gifts.
The couple have further been accused of helping cover up complaints from the crypto exchange’s former attorney.
Law professor Barbara Friend has been accused of helping her son mismanage FTX funds to siphon off millions of dollars to enrich themselves
$16.4 million: The sprawling property in Old Fort Bay, the luxury gated community where records show Bankman-Fried’s parents owned a ‘vacation home’
The suit claims the couple ‘either knew – or ignored bright red flags revealing – that their son, Bankman-Fried, and other FTX Insiders were orchestrating a vast fraudulent scheme.’
A statement from the couple’s attorneys denied all allegations, saying they are ‘completely false.’
Sean Hecker, counsel to Joe, and Michael Tremonte, counsel to Barbara said: ‘This is a dangerous attempt to intimidate Joe and Barbara and undermine the jury process just days before their child’s trial begins. These claims are completely false.
‘Mr. Ray and his massive team of lawyers, who are collectively running up countless millions of dollars in fees while returning relatively little to FTX clients, know better,’
Stanford University, in a statement, said the institution will be returning the funds ‘in their entirety.’
Dee Mostofi, a university spokesperson said: ‘Stanford received gifts from the FTX Foundation and FTX-related companies largely for pandemic-related prevention and research.
Sam Bankman-Fried, 31, is currently in jail awaiting trial
‘We have been in discussions with attorneys for the FTX debtors to recover these gifts and we will be returning the funds in their entirety.’
Bankman-Fried is currently jailed and awaiting trial under federal indictment on money laundering and fraud charges in connection to FTX’s disastrous collapse.
He was at the helm of the crypto platform when it filed for bankruptcy protection after a run on deposits brought highlight a whopping $8billion hole in the exchange’s accounts.
Soon after, Bankman-Fried was charged by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.
The 31-year-old’s trial is set to begin on October 3. He has pleaded not guilty.
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