Daniel Friedberg, the controversial lawyer who served as top compliance chief at now-defunct crypt exchange FTX, has reportedly cooperated with United States’ prosecutors investigating FTX collapse.
Friedberg provided details about FTX in a meeting with two dozen investigators held by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York’s (SDNY) office on Nov. 22, Reuters reported.
The meeting was attended by officials from the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well the Securities and Exchange Commission.
At the meeting, Friedberg provided prosecutors with his knowledge of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s use of customer funds to finance his illegal business scheme. He also gave details of how Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund Alameda Research functioned.
The lawyer reportedly expects to be invited as a government witness in Bankman-Fried’s October trial. Friedberg has not yet been charged, and has not been informed that he is being investigated for criminal offences.
While willing to help U.S. authorities get more details in Bankman-Fried’s case, Friedberg himself has seemingly taken measures to hide some personal information from the public.
Friedberg deleted his LinkedIn account shortly after FTX collapsed. Reports indicated that he was involved with UltimateBet’s online poker fraud. He reportedly served as general counsel at UltimateBet and played a role in covering up that firm’s cheating scandal back in 2008.
While there are some reports that do not mention this, suggest that Friedberg joined FTX in March 2020, Bankman-Fried reportedly claimed that he was FTX’s “legal advisor from the very beginning” in 2019. Friedberg was also reported to have been the first outside counsel for Bankman-Fried in running Alameda.
According to Reuters’ sources, Friedberg resigned from his position at FTX on Nov. 8, a day after Bankman-Fried disclosed to top executives that FTX almost ran out of money.
Related: Report: US authorities seize $460M of Robinhood shares that are tied to FTX.
As previously reported, Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to all criminal charges related to the FTX collapse on Jan. 3, including wire fraud, securities fraud and violations of campaign finance laws. FTX co-founder Gary Wang and former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison previously pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges in December. Both are now cooperating with SDNY and the SEC’s investigation into Bankman-Fried.