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Judge kept FTX execs’ plea deals secret to get founder to US

FILE - FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, center, is escorted to his car from the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022, in New York. A judge agreed to a request by prosecutors to keep it secret that two of Bankman-Fried's executive associates had turned against him so that the cryptocurrency entrepreneur would agree not to fight extradition from the Bahamas to the United States, according to transcripts of plea deals made public Friday, Dec. 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
FILE - FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, center, is escorted to his car from the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022, in New York. A judge agreed to a request by prosecutors to keep it secret that two of Bankman-Fried's executive associates had turned against him so that the cryptocurrency entrepreneur would agree not to fight extradition from the Bahamas to the United States, according to transcripts of plea deals made public Friday, Dec. 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson) FILE - FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, center, is escorted to his car from the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022, in New York. A judge agreed to a request by prosecutors to keep it secret that two of Bankman-Fried's executive associates had turned against him so that the cryptocurrency entrepreneur would agree not to fight extradition from the Bahamas to the United States, according to transcripts of plea deals made public Friday, Dec. 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

By LARRY NEUMEISTER / Associated Press 5 min read

NEW YORK (AP) — 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.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams announced the guilty pleas when Bankman-Fried was in the air late Wednesday.

Prosecutors had been concerned that if Bankman-Fried found out his friends were cooperating, he might try to fight extradition from the Bahamas, where he had been arrested at the request of U.S. authorities.

Ellison, 28, and Wang, 29, entered their guilty pleas in Manhattan federal court Monday to charges that carry a potential penalty of decades in prison.