�WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2022) Federal prosecutors in the United States began probing cryptocurrency exchange FTX months before it filed for bankruptcy and received attention from lawmakers, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the investigation.
The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York worked on a probe of FTX's cryptocurrency platform for several months before news of its collapse broke, the report said on Monday.
The federal prosecutors were already investigating FTX's exchange operations as part of a broader examination of cryptocurrency platforms with US and offshore arms, the report said.
The US attorney's office in Manhattan is known for handling complex financial crime cases, including many involving cryptocurrency, according to the report.
FTX's collapse has led to increased scrutiny of their practices by lawmakers as well. A group of Republicans sent a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week requesting information on possible financial ties between the Democratic Party and Ukrainian government via FTX.
The lawmakers said that billions of taxpayer Dollars sent to Ukraine were potentially invested in FTX, whose owner, Sam Bankman-Fried, contributed millions of dollars to Democrats in the 2022 midterm election cycle.
The US is likely to tighten regulatory pressure on cryptocurrencies following the collapse of FTX, which has sent ripples through the digital asset market, industry experts told Sputnik.
