美国国家公共电台 NPR--Disgraced former CEO of FTX crypto exchange is arrested in the Bahamas

Disgraced former CEO of FTX crypto exchange is arrested in the Bahamas

Transcript¹

Prosecutors² will unseal a criminal indictment³ against Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder⁴ of the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, on Tuesday. He was taken into custody⁵ in the Bahamas on Monday.

ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged the former CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX with violating securities laws. Prosecutors say Sam Bankman-Fried orchestrated a massive, yearslong fraud. NPR's David Gura joins us now. David, hello.

DAVID GURA, BYLINE⁶: Hey, Rob.

SCHMITZ: Walk us through this indictment, David. What does the SEC allege⁷?

GURA: Well, prosecutors say that Sam Bankman-Fried, who founded FTX in 2019, was defrauding⁸ investors⁹ in his company and customers who used the site to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. For years, they allege he was, quote, "diverting billions of dollars of the trading platform's customer funds for his own personal benefit and to help grow his crypto empire." The SEC says Bankman-Fried took customer money and he used it to make investments. He also bought millions of dollars of real estate with it in the Bahamas, where he was based. And he used it to make substantial political donations.

You know, at the center of this, Rob, is an extremely cozy¹⁰ relationship between FTX and a trading firm called Alameda Research, which was, essentially¹¹, Bankman-Fried's personal crypto hedge fund. The SEC says he was co-mingling customer funds, using customer money for investments. And when the crypto market soured a few months ago, he used it to plug holes that just kept getting bigger and bigger.

SCHMITZ: This does not sound good. How does this comport¹² with the image that Sam Bankman-Fried projected?

GURA: You know, this is really central to this indictment. SEC Chair Gary Gensler says in a statement, Sam Bankman-Fried built a house of cards on a foundation of deception¹³ while telling investors that it was one of the safest buildings in crypto. The SEC alleges¹⁴ Bankman-Fried misled investors about what he was doing, what he wasn't doing and the risk protocols¹⁵ FTX had in place. Prosecutors said Bankman-Fried, quote, "held himself out as a visionary leader in the crypto industry and touted¹⁶ his efforts to create a regulated and thriving crypto asset market." They go on to note he conducted an intensive public relations campaign to brand himself and his companies as honest stewards¹⁷ of crypto, Rob. But the SEC says the reality was very different.

SCHMITZ: And, David, remind us, how did this all come about?

GURA: Well, extremely quickly. Remember, FTX imploded¹⁸ and filed for bankruptcy¹⁹ just one month ago. We learned Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas at the request of the U.S. government on Monday night. Bahamian police say he was taken into custody without incident at his apartment. And he's scheduled to appear before a judge there today. This is going to be a busy day, with the U.S. attorney for the southern district announcing criminal charges of its own, another indictment from the Commodity Futures²⁰ Trading Commission.

We've known pretty much since FTX imploded that regulators and law enforcement in the U.S., but also in a handful of other countries, have been investigating what happened. And FTX's new CEO, who's shepherding it through bankruptcy proceedings²¹, said in a court filing, FTX has been fielding lots of information requests. FTX has more than a million creditors²², Rob. And hundreds of millions of dollars have just gone missing.

SCHMITZ: Gosh. What are the implications for the other investigations²⁴ into FTX?

GURA: Well, the attorney general in the Bahamas is doing his own investigation²³. FTX is doing a postmortem. There's been a request in U.S. bankruptcy court for an independent examiner. And then there's Congress. Lawmakers in both the House and the Senate in both parties are digging into this. And Bankman-Fried was supposed to appear virtually before the House Financial Services Committee today. Of course, that's now not in the cards.

But the chairwoman of that committee said in a statement the hearing is going to go forward as scheduled. The other witness, John Ray, who is FTX's new CEO, is going to testify as planned. And in his testimony²⁵, he says basically what we see laid out in this indictment, that FTX was a total mess with no corporate²⁶ governance. And what he's trying to do, with a new executive team and a new independent board, is to track down those hundreds of millions I mentioned just a moment ago that have disappeared.

SCHMITZ: NPR's David Gura. Thanks.

GURA: Thank you.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

3 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

4 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

5 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 allege   

vt.宣称，申述，主张，断言

参考例句：

• The newspaper reporters allege that the man was murdered but they have given no proof.新闻记者们宣称这个男人是被谋杀的，但他们没提出证据。
• Students occasionally allege illness as the reason for absence.学生时不时会称病缺课。

8 defrauding   

v.诈取，骗取( defraud的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Second is the actor regards defrauding of the wealth as object. 第二，行为人以骗取钱财为目的。 来自互联网
• Therefore, DELL has the motive and economic purpose of intentionally defrauding the Chinese consumers. 因此，戴尔公司存在故意欺诈中国消费者的动机和经济目的。 来自互联网

9 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

10 cozy   

adj.亲如手足的，密切的，暖和舒服的

参考例句：

• I like blankets because they are cozy.我喜欢毛毯，因为他们是舒适的。
• We spent a cozy evening chatting by the fire.我们在炉火旁聊天度过了一个舒适的晚上。

11 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

12 comport   

vi.相称，适合

参考例句：

• His behavior did not comport with his office.他的行为与他的职务很不相称。
• A judge should comport himself authoritatively.法官举止必须要庄严。

13 deception   

n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计

参考例句：

• He admitted conspiring to obtain property by deception.他承认曾与人合谋骗取财产。
• He was jailed for two years for fraud and deception.他因为诈骗和欺诈入狱服刑两年。

14 alleges   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The newspaper article alleges that the mayor is corrupt. 报纸上断言该市长腐败。
• Steven was tardy this morning and alleges that his bus was late. 史提芬今天早上迟到的说词是公车误点了。

15 protocols   

n.礼仪( protocol的名词复数 )；（外交条约的）草案；（数据传递的）协议；科学实验报告（或计划）

参考例句：

• There are also protocols on the testing of nuclear weapons. 也有关于核武器试验的协议。 来自辞典例句
• Hardware components and software design of network transport protocols are separately introduced. 介绍系统硬件组成及网络传输协议的软件设计。 来自互联网

16 touted   

v.兜售( tout的过去式和过去分词 )；招揽；侦查；探听赛马情报

参考例句：

• She's being touted as the next leader of the party. 她被吹捧为该党的下一任领导人。
• People said that he touted for his mother and sister. 据说，他给母亲和姐姐拉生意。 来自辞典例句

17 stewards   

（轮船、飞机等的）乘务员( steward的名词复数 )； （俱乐部、旅馆、工会等的）管理员； （大型活动的）组织者； （私人家中的）管家

参考例句：

• The stewards all wore armbands. 乘务员都戴了臂章。
• The stewards will inspect the course to see if racing is possible. 那些干事将检视赛马场看是否适宜比赛。

18 imploded   

v.（使）向心聚爆( implode的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The economies of Brazil and Russia imploded in 1998. 巴西与俄罗斯的经济在1998年宣告破裂。 来自互联网
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

19 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

20 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

21 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

22 creditors   

n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They agreed to repay their creditors over a period of three years. 他们同意3年内向债主还清欠款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Creditors could obtain a writ for the arrest of their debtors. 债权人可以获得逮捕债务人的令状。 来自《简明英汉词典》

23 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

24 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。

25 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

26 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。