Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents sued for their alleged involvement in FTX

Barbara Fried and Allan Joseph Bankman, the parents of the disgraced ‘King Crypto’ Sam Bankman-Fried, are being sued for allegedly holding millions of improperly acquired money.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents are being sued for money their son is alleged to have gotten improperly from the collapsed crypto fund FTX.

Barbara Fried and Allan Joseph Bankman – whose son was dubbed the ‘King of Crypto’ and are both professors at Stanford University – are being accused of possessing “fraudulently transferred” money and ignoring infringements at the firm, which lost investors an estimated $8 billion, according to a court filing.

The action from FTX was submitted for those owed money by the fund’s failure – which led to Sam being arrested late last year – after federal prosecutors accused Sam of using millions from the exchange to cover losses at his trading business, hand over political donations and purchase property, allegations that Sam denies.

The couple have also denied the claims and called them “completely false” and were made to hinder their 31-year-old son’s chances at being proven innocent at trial.

The lawsuit states that the pair used their “access and influence within the FTX enterprise to enrich themselves, directly and indirectly, by millions of dollars”.

According to the filing, Barbara and Joseph got a $10 million gift from money belonging to the FTX partner company, Alameda, while FTX supplied them with a $16.4 million property in the Bahamas.

It also states that his father, a US law tax expert, was an advisor to FTX and “played a key role in perpetuating this culture of misrepresentations and gross mismanagement and helped cover up allegations that would have exposed the fraud” and assisted in squashing an internal complaint concerning price manipulation from 2019.

Joseph is also facing claims he stayed in $1,200 a-night hotels and was unhappy with his $200,000 salary, arguing it was meant to be $1 million while Barbara is accused of giving her son advice on what political causes to donate to and telling him to hide their origins.