FTX’s Bankman-Fried hires white collar defense attorney Mark Cohen

FTX's senior executives, including Bankman-Fried, are being looked at by regulators around the world, notably in the Bahamas, where the company is based, and in the US, according to a previous report by Reuters. After experiencing a liquidity problem that caused at least $1 billion in lost customer funds, the cryptocurrency exchange declared bankruptcy last month.

Cohen of Cohen & Gresser has been engaged by Bankman-Fried, according to a statement from Bankman-Fried spokesperson Mark Botnick via email. It was impossible to contact Cohen for comment.

Bankman-Fried has not been accused of any misconduct by the authorities or the prosecution. He is the target of civil litigation brought by FTX clients and investors.

According to Botnick, Stanford Law School professor David Mills is advising on the situation. An inquiry for comment from Mills was not answered. Semafor has previously written about Mills' advice to Bankman-Fried.

Ghislaine Maxwell was recently represented by Cohen, a former assistant US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, in her sex trafficking case.

Martin Flumenbaum of the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison had previously been engaged by Bankman-Fried, but the company announced last month that it was no longer representing him owing to conflicts.

Two persons with knowledge of the queries claim that U.S. authorities have recently asked investors and potential investors in FTX for information. According to the sources, federal prosecutors in New York are requesting information on any conversations that these companies may have had with the crypto company's management, including Bankman-Fried. The information requests were previously reported by Bloomberg.

According to one of the sources, the Securities and Exchange Commission has also been requesting comparable information from investors.

On the condition of anonymity, these individuals and attorneys stated that American authorities are probably searching for any proof of major informational misrepresentations to investors.

U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan and SEC spokespeople both declined to comment on the information request.

According to Reuters, FTX shifted customer monies covertly to its affiliate Alameda Research to make up for a shortage at the cryptocurrency trading company.

Bankman-Fried claimed, during a video connection appearance at the New York Times Dealbook Summit on Wednesday with Andrew Ross Sorkin, that he did not intentionally mix up customer assets on FTX with funds at his proprietary trading company, Alameda Research.

Bankman-Fried stated, "I never attempted to perpetrate fraud," and he doesn't believe he is legally responsible for anything.