Sam Bankman-Fried Returns to Twitter, Denies Moving Funds in Wallets Associated with Alameda Research

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has returned to Twitter, denying allegations that he moved funds out of wallets associated with now-bankrupt trading firm Alameda Research.

In a response to a story that said wallets associated with Alameda transferred funds just days after Bankman-Fried was released on bail, SBF said he couldn’t be moving any of those funds because he doesn’t have access to them anymore. He added:

“I believe it is likely the case that various legit legs of FTX have the ability to access these funds; hopefully that’s what’s happening here. If not, hopefully one steps in soon to do so. I would be happy to help advise regulators on this if any wanted.”

I believe it is likely the case that various legit legs of FTX have the ability to access these funds; hopefully that's what's happening here. If not, hopefully one steps in soon to do so. I would be happy to help advise regulators on this if any wanted.

— SBF (@SBF_FTX) December 30, 2022

On December 28, some Twitter users and online detectives were quick to spot the transfer of funds from Alameda wallets, which were swapping different amount of ERC-20 tokens for ETH and USDT that was then funneled through instant exchangers and mixers.

Prominent on-chain analyst ZachXBT stated that the Alameda wallet was eventually swapping the funds for Bitcoin using decentralized exchanges such as FixedFloat and ChangeNow.

Some users have speculated that SBF or another FTX insider might be responsible. As of now, SBF is held under house arrest at the Bankman-Fried family home in Palo Alto. He was released from jail last week after posting a $250m bond in a New York court.

It is worth noting that some online investigators reported a series of obfuscated wallet transactions allegedly linked to SBF just yesterday. An on-chain investigation by DeFi educator BowTiedIguana shows that he might have cashed out around $684,000 to a crypto exchange in Seychelles while under house arrest. 

BowTiedIguana noted that a wallet linked to SBF has sent all its remaining crypto tokens to a new Ethereum address. The new wallet then received over 100 new deposits in three hours from various addresses, most having links to Alameda Research. They added:

“In less than 4 hours, 570 ETH worth approximately $684,000 was transferred out of this new wallet, to various destinations. Funds were sent to a no KYC exchange based in the Seychelles and to the Bitcoin network via the Ren Protocol, a bridge funded by Alameda.”

As the Ethereum blockchain is an immutable public ledger, this on-chain evidence is permanently available to law enforcement and the courts

For regular research reports subscribe to DeFi Education https://t.co/4YkFIoyHX4
or join the best course in cryptohttps://t.co/A3qmLObtcu

— BowTiedIguana | DeFi research, Cybersecurity info (@BowTiedIguana) December 30, 2022

As reported, SBF is expected to plead not guilty to fraud and other charges against him at his upcoming arraignment on Tuesday, January 3rd. He was indicted on eight criminal charges including wire fraud and conspiracy by misusing customer funds by the Southern District of New York.