FTX collapse was not a one-man wrecking crew: Jonathan Turley
Fox News contributor expects more indictments to come after FTX founder Sam Bankman-Friend is charged with fraud, arguing he 'did not do all of this alone.'
Disgraced crypto-investor Sam Bankman-Fried didn't act alone in his alleged fraud and money laundering, law scholar Jonathan Turley suggested Tuesday.
Bankman-Fried, currently in Bahamian custody while awaiting potential extradition to the United States, was charged with eight counts ranging from wire fraud to money laundering to conspiracy to commit fraud. He was arrested Monday, the day before he was scheduled to appear remote before House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., and her panel.
Turley, a George Washington University law professor, told "America Reports" on Fox News that Bankman-Fried was likely not the only one involved in committing the alleged crimes, and that the cryptocurrency space is "bizarre[ly]" mostly void of the restraints and oversight of other asset classes.
"You're left scratching your head, saying, ‘What, did we just have an honor system [for] just billions of dollars?’" he asked, later adding it is "really bizarre to see in this day and age how people can shift billions and billions of dollars with virtually no restraints or oversight."
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Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of FTX Cryptocurrency Derivatives Exchange, speaks during the Institute of International Finance (IIF) annual membership meeting in Washington, DC (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Turley added that the alleged transgressions were not the doing of a "one-man wrecking crew" and that other people must have been involved in facilitating these transactions that left FTX investors in the lurch.
"So one would expect more indictments to come," he said.
Turley also analyzed some of the counts filed against Bankman-Fried, saying that the final count of conspiracy to violate federal campaign finance laws was of note.
"[That count] is really fascinating because Bankman-Fried's mother was supposedly involved in some aspects of that. She ran a very large Democratic-type of fund for elections. His own father, by the way, was reportedly being paid as an employee. They both were in the Bahamas," he said.
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The 30-year-old's parents, Barbara Fried and Joseph Bankman, reportedly are law professors at Stanford University in California.
In an interview later on "The Story," former New York federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy appeared to question some of the timing around Bankman-Fried's detention by Bahamian authorities, pointing out he would've been essentially trackable while on camera before Waters' committee.
Bankman-Fried was not much of a flight risk, McCarthy said, pointing to strong coordination in progress between Nassau and Washington.
"They took their time and presented the case to a grand jury, and they were coordinating with The Bahamas' government. So, you know, that's how they got the arrest warrant," he said.
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House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., presides over a markup of pending bills. ((AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite))
"If you had that kind of coordination, plus you know the guy is on camera testifying in Congress – He's obviously not going anywhere when he's on camera. I'm just puzzled why they thought, you know, there are obviously things we don't know, but I'm puzzled if they were worried that he was about to flee."
McCarthy further pointed out Bankman-Fried has not been afraid to make public statements about FTX's fall, including to a New York Times forum earlier this month via satellite.
The difference between the media and Congress is that Waters' committee would have placed him under oath and opened him up to "hostile" questioning from Republicans on the panel.
He questioned why the feds would forgo such an opportunity.
"All they needed to do was wait a few hours and let him testify. And then you could pop them at that point… I would imagine that since Bankman-Fried was a top Democratic donor and a lot of the reporting has been that he's given like $40 million to the Democrats, and he's the number-two donor after Soros in the last cycle," McCarthy said.
"They may not have wanted to listen to four hours of Republicans pointing out that all that money went to politicians."