Stanford University To Return All FTX Donations As Bankman-Fried's Parents Accused Of Undue Influence

Stanford University has announced its intention to give back the substantial sums it accepted from the now-insolvent cryptocurrency platform, FTX FTT/USD and its associated companies.

“We have been in discussions with attorneys for the FTX debtors to recover these gifts and we will be returning the funds in their entirety,” stated a university representative, according to Bloomberg. 

This development emerged amidst the backdrop of the upcoming Benzinga's Future of Digital Assets conference on Nov. 14.

This decision followed a recent legal action initiated by FTX consultants, who want to retrieve funds due to the platform's clients.

The lawsuit claimed the parents of Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX's co-founder and ex-CEO, misused their sway over the company to amass significant wealth.

Court documents revealed they allegedly gained "millions of dollars" both directly and indirectly.

Bankman-Fried's parents Allan Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried are legal academics who have lectured at Stanford Law School.

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The litigation stated that between November 2021 and May 2022, Stanford was the beneficiary of donations amounting to approximately $5.5 million from businesses linked to FTX.

The university's representative clarified, “Stanford received gifts from the FTX Foundation and FTX-related companies largely for [COVID-19] pandemic-related prevention and research.”

In a separate statement released earlier, legal representatives for Bankman and Fried refuted the allegations of deceitful transactions by FTX, labeling them as “completely false.”

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