by Pam Martens and Russ Martens at Wall Street on Parade
Over the past week Wall Street On Parade has reached out to a number of individuals connected to FTX Capital Markets, the stock trading platform and SEC-registered brokerage firm that was majority owned by the indicted crypto kingpin, Sam Bankman-Fried. We’ve received two answers to our questions: Either, “I can’t talk about it” or “no comment.” Regulators have been just as tight-lipped. When we emailed one of the lawyers handling the bankruptcy process for FTX, James Bromley of Sullivan & Cromwell, the response came back from a crisis management/public relations firm, Joelle Frank. Their response was “decline to comment.”
Bankman-Fried’s ability to enter the regulated world of stock trading in the U.S. while, according to Justice Department prosecutors, he was operating a vast fraud, raises red flags about what other crypto firms may be doing or contemplating.
Despite all of the stonewalling, Wall Street On Parade has been able to significantly pull back the curtain at FTX Capital Markets. Here’s what we’ve discovered thus far.
The Wall Street self-regulator, FINRA, has documents on file showing that Sam Bankman-Fried is the indirect owner of 50 to 74 percent of FTX Capital Markets, which was purchased outright by an FTX related firm, West Realm Shires.
Despite the fact that the bankruptcy handlers for FTX are supposed to be…
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