Judge Kept FTX Executives’ Plea Deals Secret to Get Founder to US

Judge Kept FTX Executives’ Plea Deals Secret to Get Founder to US
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (C) is escorted to his car from the U.S. District Court in Manhattan in New York on Dec. 22, 2022. Julia Nikhinson/AP Photo
The Associated Press
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NEW YORK—A judge kept secret that two of Sam Bankman-Fried’s closest associates had turned against him so the cryptocurrency entrepreneur wouldn’t get spooked and fight extradition from the Bahamas, according to court transcripts made public Friday.

U.S. prosecutors in New York waited until Bankman-Fried, the founder of the collapsed crypto exchange FTX, was in FBI custody before revealing that his business partners, Carolyn Ellison and Gary Wang, had secretly pleaded guilty to fraud charges and were cooperating, which can earn them leniency at sentencing.