FTX Investors Sue Sam Bankman-fried With These Class Action Lawsuits

Key Insights

• Several FTX customers have filed Class action lawsuits against Sam Bankman-Fried and Others.
• Most of the plaintiffs want a jury trial.
• Asides from the legal issues, there are probes and investigations into the FTX collapse.

The embattled CEO of FTX exchange, Sam Bankman-Fried, has continued to be the subject of several lawsuits. Since his crypto empire crashed, lawsuits against him continued to increase. Presently, the former “white knight” is a defendant in seven class action lawsuits since FTX’s bankruptcy. 

Significantly, these lawsuits are separate from the probes and investigations leveled against Sam Bankman-Fried while he was running FTX. Some of these probes and investigations center on market manipulation, dark money donations to the Republican party etc. 

Podalsky vs. Sam Bankman-Fried 

On 7 December, Gregg Podalsky and four other customers of the FTX exchange filed a lawsuit against Golden State Warriors, Bankman-Fried, and other celebrities. The Plaintiff accused the defendants of fraudulently inducing investors and promoting unregistered securities. They approached the court for losing billions of dollars because they invested in unregistered securities in the form of yield-bearing accounts. 

The defendants attached to the lawsuit include Tom Brady, Kevin O‘Leary, Stephen Curry, Trevor Lawrence, and Shaquille O’Neal. Furthermore, Podalsky demanded that the case have a jury trial.

Jessup vs. Sam Bankman-Fried 

Michael Elliott Jessup, an FTX customer, brought a class-action lawsuit against Bankman-Fried on 5 December. He joined the former Alameda CEO, Caroline Ellison and other FTX executives in the lawsuit. Micheal Jessup accused them of fraud, unjust enrichment and conversion.

Significantly, unjust enrichment in lawsuits refers to the scenario where an individual or actor enriches himself at the expense of others. The case of conversion will be treated as someone converting another person’s property. 

Similarly, Jessup (just like Podalsky) wants the class action to have a jury. He alleged that FTX customers had rightful possession of their crypto assets and that the defendants transferred these assets to Alameda Research without (their) consent or authority — which constitutes conversion in the eyes of the Plaintiff’s lawyers.

Hawkins vs. Sam Bankman-Fried 

On 2 December, Russel Hawkins filed a class action lawsuit against Sam Bankman-fried, FTX executives, the Armanino accounting firm, and Prager Metis. Russel Hawkins revealed that Armanino and Prager Metis issued the certified reports claiming that FTX is in a healthy financial state. 

Furthermore, he said they publicly represented that the FTX  entities and YBAs were viable investments. However, they “deceived consumers into investing with the FTX entities.”

Pierce vs. Sam Bankman-Fried 

On 23 November, another FTX customer, Stephen Pierce, filed a class action lawsuit in California against Sam Bankman-fried and his “inner circle.” He told the court that the embattled FTX founder committed “one of the great frauds in history. Similarly, he said, “Sam and his inner circle treated the assets as a slush fund— using it for their proprietary investments and personal boondoggles.”

The Plaintiff has demanded a jury and alleged that FTX had violated his Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). 

Conclusively, there are other class action cases at various cases, filed against Sam Bankman-fried. While every customer is still calculating their losses, there are expectations that more lawsuits will follow in the coming days.