Former FTX Lawyer Provides Information to U.S. Prosecutors in Criminal Case Against Company's Founder SBF

Meeting with prosecutors

FTX filed for bankruptcy protection on Nov. 11. A few days later, on Nov. 14, Friedberg received a call from two FBI agents based in New York. He told them he was willing to share information but needed to ask FTX to waive his attorney-client privilege, according to a person familiar with the matter and emails viewed by Reuters.

Friedberg wrote to FTX the next day asking the company to waive his privilege so he could cooperate with prosecutors. FTX did not do so, but agreed with Friedberg on the points he could disclose to investigators.

Friedberg then wrote back to the two FBI agents, telling them in an email: "I want to cooperate in all respects."

The U.S. Attorney's Office set up a meeting where Friedberg signed so-called proffer letters prepared for him by the SEC and other agencies, according to the source and an email exchanged by participants. Proffer letters typically describe a potential agreement between authorities and individuals who are witnesses or subjects of an investigation.

"Through thick and thin"

Prior to his work advising FTX, Friedberg advised a mix of banking, fintech, and online gaming companies.

One of his previous employers, a Canadian online gaming firm named Excapsa Software, where he was general counsel, also drew controversy due to a cheating scandal involving a poker site it operated called Ultimate Bet. A Canadian gaming commission in 2008 fined Ultimate Bet $1.5 million for failing to enforce measures to prevent fraudulent activities. Excapsa has since dissolved.

According to an audio recording available on the website PokerNews, Friedberg and some other Ultimate Bet associates privately discussed that year how to handle the scandal and minimize the amount of refunds owed to players. Friedberg previously told NBC News that the audio was illegally recorded but NBC's article did not say that Friedberg challenged its authenticity.

Friedberg first represented Bankman-Fried in 2017 as outside counsel while at U.S. law firm Fenwick & West, where he chaired its payment systems group, the source familiar with the matter said. At the time, the source said Friedberg advised Bankman-Fried on running Alameda, which he founded that year.

In 2020, when Bankman-Fried launched a separate exchange for U.S. customers called FTX.US, Friedberg moved in-house as FTX's chief regulatory officer.

In a now-deleted blog post published that year on FTX's website, Bankman-Fried wrote that Friedberg was FTX's legal advisor "from the very beginning," noting he had been "with us through thick and thin."

Friedberg resigned from his position on Nov. 8, a day after Bankman-Fried disclosed to top executives that FTX was almost out of money, according to the source and three other people briefed on the talks, along with text messages his legal team exchanged at the time.