FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried left the Bahamas on Wednesday on a U.S.-bound flight to face fraud charges as federal prosecutors announced that two of his former associates had pleaded guilty to charges and were now cooperating with the government.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a video posted on Twitter late Wednesday night that Caroline Ellison, former CEO of Alameda Research, and Gary Wang, co-founder of FTX, had pleaded guilty to defrauding investors in the crypto trading platform.
The revelation that two of Bankman-Fried's closest former associates had decided to cooperate with the government significantly ramped up pressure on the former billionaire.