Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX ( FTT-USD ), was said to be hit with an investigation by U.S. federal prosecutors on whether he manipulated the prices of terraUSD ( UST-USD ) and its sister token luna ( LUNC-USD ) this May that led to their implosion and ultimately caused the downfall of his crypto empire. Specifically, the prosecutors are assessing whether Bankman-Fried, commonly referred to as SBF, controlled the prices of the interlinked tokens to benefit his short-lived empire, which was comprised of FTX and his trading firm Alameda Research, The New York Times reported, citing two people with knowledge on the situation. It's unclear if the prosecutors have determined any wrongdoing by SBF, the newspaper noted, adding that the probe is in its early stages. FTX did not immediately respond to Seeking Alpha's request for comment. The span of the high-profile FTX downfall was less than two weeks. To put it bluntly, traders rushed for the exit en masse after discovering the exchange's multi-billion dollar balance sheet shortfall last month, triggering a liquidity crisis that forced FTX and its over 130 affiliates to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. SBF and his empire have come under a raft of investigations globally as there's still many missing pieces to the puzzle. The Manhattan U.S. attorney's office first launched a probe into the FTX collapse in mid-November. At around the same time, authorities in the Bahamas, where FTX is headquartered, opened a criminal investigation to determine whether "criminal misconduct occurred." Earlier this week, (Dec. 6) SBF was said to hire Mark Cohen as his defense attorney .
