The collapse of FTX has sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency industry. The price of bitcoin and other major digital coins have fallen sharply as problems at FTX emerged.
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Three people were indicted for an identity-theft conspiracy that allegedly included the $400 million hack in late 2022 of doomed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, court records show.
Robert Powell, the alleged ringleader of the SIM-card swapping group, is due to appear in federal court in Chicago later Friday for a detention hearing.
Also charged in the case are Carter Rohn, an Indianapolis resident, and Colorado resident Emily Hernandez, according to the indictment, which was issued in mid-January by a grand jury in federal court in Washington, D.C.
The three defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit aggravated identity theft and access device fraud.
The indictment does not identify FTX by name as the main victim of the conspiracy, but the details of the hack described in that charging document align with the details publicly known about the theft from FTX. A source familiar with the case confirmed that FTX was the victim mentioned in the indictment.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, which is prosecuting the case, declined to comment.
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