Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison, who were respectively behind the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX and Alameda Research, have reportedly lawyered up amid the growing intensity of probes into the companies’ collapses.

SBF Hires White-Collar Attorney

According to Reuters, the former FTX’s CEO Bankman-Fried has hired Mark S. Cohen, the head of Litigation & Arbitration and White Collar Defense & Regulation groups at Cohen & Gresser. Cohen was reportedly among the lawyers that defended Ghislaine Maxwell in a recent sex trafficking trial.

Ellison, the head of SBF’s proprietary trading firm Alameda Research, is said to have hired defence attorneys from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, an international law firm co-headquartered in Washington, D.C.

According to Reuters, no charges have been presented against the duo so far by prosecutors and regulators. However, there are several ongoing investigations by the authorities, including the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), on the role of the executives in the collapse of FTX and Alameda.

FTX filed for bankruptcy on November 11, revealing billions in shortfalls. The crypto exchange was also accused of knowingly co-mingling customers’ funds with the trading company Alameda.

SBF Doesn’t Think he Has Criminal Liability

In the same month, Martin Flumenbaum, the attorney previously representing Bankman-Fried, dropped the position due to conflict that ensued after SBF made a public comment in an attempt to explain the exchange’s collapse. Among other things, SBF had said that the crypto exchange failed due to “messy accounting.”

Attorneys reprimanded the comment, saying it could make the efforts of the defence team seeking to manage the situation more difficult. “We informed Mr Bankman-Fried several days ago after the filing of the FTX bankruptcy that conflicts have arisen that precluded us from representing him,” Flumenbaum said.

Amidst the probes, SBF recently said he doesn’t have “criminal liability” and didn’t ever try to commit fraud.

(By Ibiam Wayas)