According to a lawsuit, Sam Bankman-Fried’s father emailed him expressing his surprise and confusion over being paid $200,000 instead of $1 million by FTX. He then included SBF’s mother in the conversation.
According to a lawsuit, Sam Bankman-Fried's father emailed him expressing his surprise and confusion over being paid $200,000 instead of $1 million by FTX. He then included SBF's mother in the conversation.
SBF’s Parents Sue Over Salary Dispute at FTX: A Tale of Crypto Confusion
Imagine you’re working for a company, and your salary turns out to be just a fraction of what you anticipated. Frustrating, right? Well, that’s precisely what happened to Sam Bankman-Fried’s father, Joseph Bankman, at the now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX. In a lawsuit filed against SBF’s parents, the exchange claims that Bankman and his partner, Barbara Fried, siphoned millions of dollars for personal gain, including a curious dispute over Joseph’s salary.
According to the lawsuit, Joseph Bankman expressed his discontent about his $200,000 salary to his son and FTX’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried. In an email exchange cited in the legal filing, Bankman revealed his belief that he was supposed to be paid $1 million by FTX. Perplexed and taken aback by the significant gap between the expected and actual salary, Joseph involved his partner, Barbara Fried, in the matter.
The exchange’s claim sheds light on a somewhat comical email exchange that transpired between Joseph Bankman, Sam Bankman-Fried, and FTX’s US head of administration in January 2022. In the emails, Bankman expressed his dissatisfaction, stating that he was only receiving $16,667 per month from FTX, which he believed to be far less than what he was entitled to. He expected a yearly salary of $1 million, equivalent to over $80,000 monthly.
Seeking clarity and resolution, Joseph reached out to his son, writing, “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.” It is worth noting that FTX’s lawyers claim that Bankman’s influence eventually paid off for both him and Fried.
Within two weeks of the salary dispute, Sam Bankman-Fried gifted his parents $10 million from funds originating from his trading firm, Alameda Ltd. The lawsuit further states that Bankman-Fried caused the couple to be deeded a $16.4 million property in The Bahamas, funded by FTX Trading. In addition, Bankman and Fried enjoyed expenses of over $90,000 paid for by FTX Trading for their Bahamas residence.
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The lawsuit doesn’t stop there. It alleges that Joseph Bankman also donated $5.5 million to Stanford University in an attempt to “curry favor with and enrich his employer at the FTX Group’s expense.” The attorneys representing Bankman and Fried have yet to respond to these claims.
Unsurprisingly, the attorneys representing Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried see the lawsuit as an act of intimidation. They accuse FTX of attempting to undermine the jury process just days before their child’s trial begins. In a statement to the crypto publication, The Block, attorneys Sean Heckler and Michael Tremonte dismissed the claims as “completely false.”
This legal battle comes after FTX Group and Bankman-Fried’s trading firm, Alameda Research, filed for bankruptcy in November 2022. Bankman-Fried, who had already stepped down as CEO, faced allegations of using FTX customers’ funds to maintain Alameda Research’s operations. He has since pleaded not guilty to eight criminal charges, including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Currently, Bankman-Fried is residing in a notorious Brooklyn jail, a location that previously housed Ghislaine Maxwell. With the trial underway, it remains to be seen how this saga will unfold.
Disclaimer: The story represented in this article is based on information from a lawsuit and should not be considered settled until the trial is completed and a verdict is issued.
