Former FTX Director Pleads Guilty to Charges of Fraud, Money Laundering, and US Campaign Finance Violations

February 28, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Former FTX Executive Nishad Singh To Plead Guilty to Fraud Charges Related to Exchange Collapse: Report

February 19, 2023 The Daily Hodl

Report: Former FTX Director of Engineering Nishad Singh Negotiating Plea Deal with Prosecutors

February 18, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Google invests $300M in AI firm previously funded by Sam Bankman-Fried

February 5, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Google invests 0M in AI firm previously funded by Sam Bankman-Fried

Alameda Research

Members of Crypto Twitter are speculating whether Bankman-Fried and FTX will source the reported $530 million invested in Anthropic to pay off FTX creditors.

Google Cloud has reportedly invested $300 million into artificial intelligence (AI) startup firm Anthropic, which also happened to receive over $500 million in funds from former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried about six months before FTX catastrophically collapsed.

While the $300 million figure was reported by Financial Times on Feb. 4, Anthropic confirmed the investment partnership with Google Cloud on the same day despite not disclosing any figures:

We're excited to use Google Cloud to train our AI systems, including Claude! https://t.co/IaqQ5lpJrP https://t.co/vOn5Cj4sPt
— Anthropic (@AnthropicAI) February 3, 2023

In the same announcement, Anthropic also confirmed that they previously raised capital from Bankman-Fried and former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, among others, in its Series B fundraising round:

The Series B round was led by Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX. The round also included participation from Caroline Ellison, Jim McClave, Nishad Singh, Jaan Tallinn, and the Center for Emerging Risk Research (CERR)."

The fundraising efforts led by Bankman-Fried took place in April, 2022, according to Crunchbase.

A recent post by The New York Times reported that of the $580 million raised, about $530 million came from Bankman-Fried and his former business partners.

But some believe the figure to be even higher too.

One FTX creditor believes Bankman-Fried’s stake in the AI company could be as high as $1.1 billion. However, the creditor didn't elaborate on the figure.

Other members of the Crypto Twitter community are also speculating whether Bankman-Fried’s stake will be used to pay off the massive pile of debt that FTX has accumulated from their recent controversies.

As for the partnership, Anthropic will now utilize Google Cloud’s GPU and TPU clusters to train, expand, and implement its AI chatbox, called “Claude” — similar to that of OpenAI's ChatGTP.

Google Cloud received about a 10% stake in Anthropic, according to Financial Times.

While it remains to be seen where the bulk of the debt in the FTX bankruptcy case will be sourced from, Bankman-Fried personally pleaded not guiltty to all eight fraud and conspiracy-based charges laid against him on Jan. 3.

Bankman-Fried currently remains under house arrest at his parent’s California home until his trial date, which is set for Oct. 2, 2023.

Google Backs AI Firm Anthropic With $300 Million, Following Series B Investment From Controversial FTX Co-Founder

February 4, 2023 Bitcoin.com

FTX Co-Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Seeks Removal of Bail Restrictions on Crypto Asset Transfers

January 28, 2023 Bitcoin.com

US prosecutors seek to ban SBF from Signal after alleged witness contact

January 28, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Caroline Ellison

It’s alleged that the former FTX CEO attempted to arrange a “constructive relationship” with the current General Counsel of FTX US, Ryne Miller.

Federal prosecutors have requested that former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's (SBF) bail conditions are modified to prevent further alleged attempts at influencing witnesses’ testimonies.

Court documents filed on Jan. 27 revealed that The Department of Justice (DOJ) have asked U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan to ban Bankman-Fried from communicating with “current or former employees” of FTX or Alameda.

The prosecutors have requested this after they alleged that Bankman-Fried had reached out to Ryne Miller, the current General Counsel of FTX US, over Signal and email on Jan. 15 attempting to “influence” Miller’s testimony. The document quoted:

“I would really love to reconnect and see if there’s a way for us to have a constructive relationship, use each other as resources when possible, or at least vet things with each other.”

The prosecutors also requested that Bankman-Fried is banned from using encrypted communication applications.

“The defendant shall not use any encrypted or ephemeral call or messaging application, including but not limited to Signal.”

The document further alleged that Bankman-Fried’s use of Signal is consistent with "a history" of using the application for obstructive purposes.

It was previously reported in December 2022 that Bankman-Fried denied any involvement or knowledge of a “Wirefraud” group chat on Signal, hours before his arrest by Bahamian police.

The group chat reportedly included members of Bankman-Fried’s inner circle, including FTX co-founder Zixiao “Gary” Wang, FTX engineer Nishad Singh and former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison – who allegedly used the group to send secret information about FTX and Alameda in the lead-up to the collapse.

This comes after lawyers representing FTX in the bankruptcy proceedings had reportedly argued on Jan. 26 that Bankman-Fried’s immediate family should face questioning regarding any financial benefits they may have received from the exchange.

Nishad Singh