- Sam Bankman-Fried's "multi-million dollar gift" to his father is covering legal costs, per Forbes.
- The money for the gift had come through Alameda Research, Forbes reported.
FTX cofounder Sam Bankman-Fried is reportedly tapping into a "multi-million dollar gift" to his father, Joseph Bankman, to now help cover his legal bills.
Bankman-Fried, who at his prime was reportedly worth about $26 billion, had borrowed from his other company Alameda Research to make the payment to his father in 2021, Forbes reported, citing anonymous sources. Bankman-Fried had started Alameda in 2017 and was its CEO until October 2021, according to court filings by federal prosecutors in New York.
Bankman-Fried also apparently rejected personal finance advice from his father, who had reportedly "begged his son to put away savings," according to Forbes.
A representative for Bankman-Fried declined to comment. A representative for Mr. Bankman-Fried's parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, did not respond to Insider's emailed request for comment ahead of publication. Attorneys and representatives for FTX did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Bankman and Fried have faculty bios listed on the Stanford Law School website, though no courses are currently listed for them.
Federal prosecutors have charged that Bankman-Fried used "billions of dollars" in company funds to "enrich himself," among other things. In an updated indictment unsealed on Tuesday, they also accused Bankman-Fried of trying to bribe Chinese officials with more than $40 million in payments to "influence" them.
A hearing over the updated indictment has been scheduled for March 30 in New York federal court before US District Judge Lewis Kaplan.
Bankman-Fried has previously pleaded not guilty in January to prosecutors' original indictment, while other senior leaders in his enterprises, including FTX cofounder Gary Wang and former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, have entered into plea agreements.
Following some controversy around Bankman-Fried's access to the Internet, Judge Kaplan also added new bail restrictions on Tuesday that restrict him from using a virtual private network or encrypted texting apps like Signal, and from talking to most "current or former employees of FTX or Alameda," without lawyers present.