US government investigates $ 400 million hack of FTX cryptocurrency exchange

TheUS Department of Justice has announced the launch of an investigation into thehacking of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, which resulted in the firm losing almost $ 400 million. This was reported by Bloomberg. The leak occurred on the same day that Sam Bankman-Fried announced the exchange’s bankruptcy.

Blockchain experts even found evidence that the hacker was an FTX insider. The simultaneous hacking of the FTX and FTX US websites, access to several cold wallets, and the use of a single account led to speculation that the ex-CEO could have done it. Benkman-Fried himself is confident that this was a fake attack by cybercriminals — in his opinion, the funds were stolen by FTX employees themselves.

on November 11−12, a massive outflow of cryptocurrencies began from FTX and FTX US wallets. Exchange employees told whistleblower crypto blogger ZachXBT that they could not identify several transactions. FTX General Counsel Ryan Miller warned the company’s customers on Telegram: «FTX has been hacked. FTX apps are malicious. Uninstall them. Do not access theFTX website as it may contain viruses.» The new CEO of FTX, John J. Ray III, confirmed the hack and contacted the police.

According to a Bloomberg report, this criminal investigation is separate from the criminal case against former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. The official indictment accuses Fried of defrauding FTX clients since 2019. The ex-billionaire is also suspected of making tens of millions in illegal political donations to protect himself and his business. Earlier, there were rumors that the ex-CEO of FTX had bribed US Democrats and that is why he remained at large. As a reminder, Fried was first extradited from the Bahamas to the United States and then released on $ 250 million bail.