Mr. Williams also reiterated a point he made last week when the criminal charges against Mr. Bankman-Fried were announced. “If you participated in misconduct at FTX or Alameda, now is the time to get ahead of it,” Mr. Williams said. “We are moving quickly and our patience is not eternal.”
During a two-week media blitz before his arrest on Dec. 12, Mr. Bankman-Fried claimed he had done nothing wrong and had not intended to defraud anyone. He also claimed he wasn’t fully aware of what was happening at Alameda.
Mr. Williams, in his statement, also said Mr. Bankman-Fried was in F.B.I. custody and being flown back to the United States, and would be presented before a judge as soon as possible. He is expected to be taken into Federal District Court in Manhattan as early as Thursday.
Lawyers for Ms. Ellison declined to comment. Ilan Graff, a lawyer for Mr. Wang, said, “Gary has accepted responsibility for his actions and takes seriously his obligations as a cooperating witness.”
A spokesman for Mr. Bankman-Fried declined to comment.
In its complaint, the S.E.C. said Ms. Ellison, under direction from Mr. Bankman-Fried, had manipulated the price of a digital currency that FTX created, called FTT, by buying large quantities of the crypto token to prop up its price.
Alameda was one of the major firms that was trading FTT and had used the crypto token as collateral for loans it got from other big crypto firms to fund its trading.
The Aftermath of FTX’s Downfall
The sudden collapse of the crypto exchange has left the industry stunned.
Sanjay Wadhwa, deputy director of the S.E.C.’s Division of Enforcement, said Mr. Bankman-Fried, Ms. Ellison and Mr. Wang “were active participants in a scheme to conceal material information from FTX investors, including through the efforts of Mr. Bankman-Fried and Ms. Ellison to artificially prop up the value of FTT.”