Crypto users propose dropping lawsuit against Sam Bankman-Fried to pursue FTX influencers

In a class-action lawsuit brought against him in Florida, Sam Bankman-Fried, the ex-CEO of FTX cryptocurrency exchange, has reached a settlement with a band of cryptocurrency users.

In a court document submitted on April 19, 2023, to the Southern District of Florida, the plaintiffs involved in the 2022 lawsuit against FTX influencers disclosed that they had agreed to a settlement with Bankman-Fried (SBF). The filing stated that instead of carrying on with the costly and time-consuming trial against SBF, the plaintiffs decided to employ certain information unveiled in his criminal trial to strengthen their case versus FTX’s promoters.

According to the filing made on April 19th, Bankman-Fried possesses details and insights that Class Representatives and their legal teams believe could strengthen their lawsuits against other defendants in the FTX multidistrict litigation. These matters mainly revolve around the events taking place in Miami, Florida, where FTX’s US headquarters were situated, as well as each defendant’s involvement and connections to other states where jurisdiction over those defendants is sought.

With the judge’s approval, the proposed settlement would put an end to the ongoing lawsuit between SBF (Bankman-Fred) and crypto users seeking compensation for their losses during FTX’s collapse. According to court documents, the plaintiffs submitted the settlement plan on March 28 – the same day a judge handed down a 25-year prison sentence for Bankman-Fried following his felony conviction.

The lawsuit’s plaintiffs requested that Bankman-Fried help prosecute influencers of FTX and facilitate victim compensation through documents and testimony given at his criminal trial. Lawyers mentioned celebrities and businesses, such as Naomi Osaka, Tom Brady, Stephen Curry, and Shaquille O’Neal, who endorsed the crypto exchange before its collapse.

A lawsuit initiated by the plaintiffs, through the Moskowitz Law Firm, against FTX in November 2022 – soon after the company declared bankruptcy – was combined into its current form in June 2023.

On April 11, lawyers for Bankman-Fried filed an appeal notice against the conviction and sentence of the former FTX CEO. In addition, they asked that SBF be kept at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn instead of a federal prison in the San Francisco Bay Area to aid in his defense efforts.

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2024-04-20 01:05