FTX Wants to Subpoena Bankman-Fried’s Inner Circle

Key Takeaways

• FTX wants Sam Bankman-Fried’s inner circle to provide more information about their own personal assets.
• According to the filing, Bankman-Fried’s father, mother, and brother were all involved in the exchange’s operations in various ways.
• Former FTX chief operating officer Constance Wang has also been added to the list of FTX insiders.

FTX under John Ray is seeking court approval to subpoena Sam Bankman-Fried’s immediate family, Joseph Bankman, Barbara Fried, and Gabriel Bankman-Fried, as well as the exchange’s former executives.

A List of FTX Insiders

The new FTX management wants the old FTX management to cooperate a little more.

The exchange’s legal counsel requested on January 25 for Sam Bankman-Fried’s inner circle to be issued subpoenas to compel them into releasing more information and documents that could help FTX creditors.

The lawyers named FTX co-founder Gary Wang, former FTX head of engineering Nishad Singh, former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, and former FTX Trading chief operating officer Constance Wang as part of Bankman-Fried’s inner circle. 

SBF’s immediate family members were also mentioned in the documents. According to the new FTX management, SBF’s father, Joseph Bankman, was deeply involved in the company and acted in a senior advisory role for the group, especially on tax matters. His mother and brother, Barbara Fried and Gabriel Bankman-Fried, also worked closely with the group to coordinate political donations; both of them set up organizations that received donations from SBF and the rest of his inner circle.

FTX is now requesting for all seven individuals to provide information regarding their own assets and financial transaction history. The company is also seeking clarity on any communications members of the inner circle had between each other with regards to FTX. 

The company indicated in the filing that only Joseph Bankman and Constance Wang had been forthcoming. It claimed that Gary Wang and Caroline Ellison had expressly refused to provide information, that Nishad Singh and Gabriel Bankman-Fried had not engaged meaningfully with the debtors, and that Barbara Fried had ignored all requests altogether.

Disclaimer: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned BTC, ETH, and several other crypto assets.