Sam Bankman-Fried’s Arrest Shows Crypto Cops Are Catching Up

Working with breathtaking speed, US prosecutors and regulators on Dec. 13 unveiled criminal and civil fraud cases against Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, a day after his arrest in the Bahamas. The bombshell moves show how US authorities are combining new technological expertise to crack crypto’s complexity with old workhorse laws against money laundering, securities fraud and wire fraud to protect investors and customers.

The FTX meltdown, along with earlier failures by exchanges, hedge funds, brokers and lenders tied to the crypto industry, had given the impression that the cryptosphere was a lawless, dog-eat-dog arena. But authorities are showing they can combine warp-speed investigations with patient, multiyear searches to nab fraudsters.