Sam Bankman-Fried's parents who financially profited off his 'web of deceit' ... trends now
The parents of Sam Bankman-Fried financially profited off his 'web of deceit' in which he defrauded FTX customers out of a total of $8billion.
He committed one of the biggest financial frauds in American history - by using FTX customer deposits to prop up risky investments in fledgling hedge fund Alameda, which was run with his ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison.
The 31-year-old billionaire was convicted of two counts of fraud and five counts of conspiracy. He now faces a prison sentence of up to 110 years.
His parents, longtime Stanford Law School professors Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried, stood by him despite the allegations and were a constant presence during the high-profile trial which began on October 4.
It emerged Bankman-Fried gifted them cash, a home in the Bahamas and a $200,000 salary job with his company. While they helped put up his $250million bail, paid his security and legal fees and allowed him to live in their home near campus while under house arrest.
Bankman-Fried's parents arriving at Manhattan Federal Court on Wednesday to support their son
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Bankman-Fried's FTX was worth $32billion before its collapse in November last year and he was lauded as the future of finance, crypto's Steve Jobs.
But as prosecutors argued in court, he 'lied to the world' because in reality he was simply stealing FTX customers' money.
The 'house of cards' came crashing down last year amid tumbling crypto prices and media reports raising questions about how much of the $32billion valuation was based on FTT, FTX's own crypto token.
As customers tried to withdraw their money it created the crypto equivalent of a run on a bank, and FTX shut down.
Bankman-Fried gave his parents Joe and Barbara $10million as well as a luxury apartment in the Bahamas worth $16.4million.
His father even quit his job at Stanford and went to work for FTX for a salary of $200,000.
But Joe is said to have complained that this was a fraction of the $1million he was expecting, according to court documents.
The Stanford University law professor moaned that he was being paid around $16,500 a month, when he anticipated $80,000.
He took his gripe to his son, before looping in his mother and telling him: '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.'
Although Barbara 'never had a formal position at the FTX Group'.
Weeks later, the couple were gifted $10million by Alameda Research, FTX's sister hedge fund, also founded by their son,
