Some banks started refusing wires to or from Alameda the same year that the cryptocurrency exchange scrambled to access the U.S. banking system, according to the report

Some specific banks working with FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s trading company Alameda Research raised questions about the company’s wire activity as early as 2020, as per a report released by FTX on Monday.

Some banks started refusing wires to or from Alameda the same year that the cryptocurrency exchange scrambled to access the U.S. banking system, according to the report.

Federal prosecutors have charged that SBF stole billions of dollars in customer funds to compensate for losses at Alameda. FTX, which filed for insolvency in November after SBF resigned as Chief Executive Officer, has estimated that around $8.7bln in customer assets were pilfered from the exchange.

SBF has pleaded not guilty to 13 cases of fraud and conspiracy. He has earlier stated that when FTX did not have a bank account, some customers wired money to Alameda and were credited on FTX.

In 2020, some banks working with Alameda pressed the company on its wire transfers, as per the report.

One bank representative wrote to Alameda about references to FTX in the firm’s wire activity and asked whether the account was being used to settle trades on FTX. An Alameda employee replied that while customers “occasionally confuse FTX and Alameda,” all wires through the account were to settle trades with Alameda, as per the report.

The Alameda employee’s reply was false, FTX stated on Monday. In 2020 alone, one of Alameda’s accounts got over $250bln in deposits from FTX customers and over $4bln from other Alameda accounts that were funded in part by customer deposits, the report added.

SBF, a 31-year-old ex-billionaire, rode a boom in digital assets to accumulate an estimated net worth of $26bln, and became a prominent political and philanthropic contributor before FTX announced insolvency.