Bankman-Fried’s Top Associates Plead Guilty

Two top associates of the Sam Bankman-Fried – Alameda Research’s former CEO, Caroline Ellison, and Alameda and FTX’s Co-Founder, Zixiao (Gary) Wang, also the former CTO at FTX – have pled guilty to the criminal charges brought against them by the US prosecutors.

In a short video posted on Wednesday night, US Attorney Damian Williams confirmed that the Southern District of New York brought charges against the two co-conspirators of the Bankman-Fried, who have already pleaded guilty to those charges.

Statement of U.S. Attorney Damian Williams on U.S. v. Samuel Bankman-Fried, Caroline Ellison, and Gary Wang pic.twitter.com/u1y4cs3Koz

— US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) December 22, 2022

According to the plea agreement seen by several media outlets, 28-year-old Ellison pleaded guilty to seven counts, including wire and securities fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering
Money Laundering

Money laundering is a blanket term to describe the process by which criminals disguise the original ownership and proceeds of criminal conduct by making such proceeds appear to be derived from a legitimate source.Money laundering is an issue that traverses countless industries and sectors, which includes the financial services space. Though criminal money may be successfully laundered without the assistance of the financial sector, billions of dollars’ worth of criminally derived money are laundered through financial institutions each year.This is not entirely surprising given the structure of the financial services industry and the nature of products and services offered by its participants.An ecosystem that involves the management, control, and processing of finances is inherently vulnerable to abuse by money launderers.Money Laundering ExplainedThe act of laundering is committed in circumstances in which an individual or entity is engaged in an arrangement that involves the proceeds of crime. These arrangements include a wide range of business relationships, i.e. banking, fiduciary and investment management.However, the degree of knowledge or suspicion will depend upon the specific offense but will usually be present where the person providing the arrangement, service or product knows, suspects or has reasonable grounds to suspect that the property involved in…