US investigates how US$372 million vanished in hack after FTX bankruptcy
- The Justice Department investigation into the stolen assets is separate from a fraud case against FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, a report said
- FTX filed for US bankruptcy last month and Bankman-Fried stepped down as chief executive, after traders pulled billions from the platform in three days
Federal prosecutors are investigating an alleged cybercrime that drained more than US$370 million from cryptocurrency exchange FTX hours after it filed for bankruptcy last month.
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has launched a criminal investigation into the stolen assets that is separate from the fraud case against FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, according to a person familiar with the case. US authorities have managed to freeze some of the stolen funds, the person confirmed. However the frozen assets only represent a fraction of the entire loot.
It is unclear whether the infiltration was an inside job, as Bankman-Fried suggested in interviews before his arrest, or the work of an opportunistic hacker keen to exploit the vulnerabilities of a crumbling company.
The conduct could amount to a charge in connection with computers fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
The amount stolen is considerably less than the billions of dollars Bankman-Fried is accused of misusing, while he was at the helm of FTX. Authorities said the 30-year-old FTX founder, who is currently on bail and living in California, fraudulently raised US$1.8 billion from investors and used FTX funds to wage high-risk bets at hedge fund Alameda Research and to cover personal expenses.