What to know about Sam Bankman-Fried and the FTX crypto exchange collapse

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was hit with a slew of civil and criminal charges on Tuesday, a day after his arrest in the Bahamas at the request of the U.S. government.

The charges follow the collapse of FTX in November, when Bankman-Fried resigned and the cryptocurrency exchange filed for bankruptcy, stunning its customers and investors. It has led to calls for stricter regulation of the crypto industry.

On Tuesday morning, federal prosecutors in New York unsealed an eight-count criminal indictment against Bankman-Fried, alleging fraud and conspiracy charges stemming from the misuse of billions in cryptocurrency assets.

Hours earlier, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced civil charges against Bankman-Fried, alleging the 30-year-old had “orchestrated a years-long fraud” that concealed from investors the diversion of FTX customer funds to his crypto trading firm Alameda Research, among other allegations. Meanwhile, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission accused Bankman-Fried of fraud and is seeking civil penalties.

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