FTX founder was released on $250 million bail

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was released from custody on Thursday after his attorneys negotiated a $250 million bail agreement with prosecutors, as former cryptocurrency titanium awaits federal criminal prosecution, but he didn’t actually contribute any of his own money to the plea agreement, despite an astronomical figure.

HIGHLIGHTS
Bankman-Fried was released on personal recognizance, requiring his parents to contribute capital to his home in Stanford, California, at an estimated cost of just under $1.8 million this year.
The agreement required the signatures of his parents and two other persons with “significant” property. In return, he was given the option of not paying the rest of the $250 million if he did not miss his next court visit scheduled for January 3.

Bankman-Fried was ordered to remain in his parents’ home under “strict” pre-trial supervision, which included wearing an electronic wrist monitor, and was prohibited from opening new credit lines worth more than $1,000.

He pleads guilty to the charges, including fraud, conspiracy to launder money and campaign finance, later, although he denied his guilt in recent media interviews.

Bankman-Fried consistently argued in a media interview after the FTX crash last month that the only remaining asset he knew about was a bank account with $100,000 on it.

BASIC HISTORY
The 30-year-old Bankman-Fried was extradited to the United States from the Bahamas on Wednesday night after a few days of confusion over the status of his extradition after he was taken into custody last week. FTX filed for bankruptcy last month after the company lost billions of dollars in a failed attempt to back up its sister trading firm, Alameda Research.