Sam Bankman-Fried found ways to control the prices of digital coins to benefit his companies, FTX and Alameda, according to cryptocurrency investors.
In Sam Bankman-Fried’s quest to keep his cryptocurrency empire looking profitable, the disgraced founder of FTX often promoted newfangled digital currencies that crypto aficionados came to call “Samcoins.”
Mr. Bankman-Fried wooed the developers of these new coins with names like Serum and Maps, insisting that they make their trading debuts on the FTX exchange. Then his hedge fund, Alameda Research, would buy some of these newly listed Samcoins to prop up their value, while Mr. Bankman-Fried used FTX’s influence in the crypto industry to drum up interest in those coins and convince other investors to also buy significant amounts.
Mr. Bankman-Fried was thus able to inflate the coins’ value artificially, making Alameda look healthier than it was and papering over problems at his companies until they imploded in November.
University of Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger may have left behind a “calling card” to show he was at the scene of the grisly killings in Moscow, Idaho — and the brutality of the crime suggests that he possibly has killed before, according to experts.
The Idaho student slayings baffled America and at first appeared to be the perfect crime — with cops seemingly chasing their tails and families of the four victims voicing their frustration.