North Dimension is one of 130 firms under Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto empire. Officials now claim that North Dimension had a pivotal part in the FTX fiasco.
Based on the claims reported by NBC News, the obscure firm played a crucial role in the stealthy theft of money from FTX accounts.
In Connection to FTX
North Dimension is a crypto hedge fund and trading business formed by Bankman-Fried. This is where FTX users were directed to send funds if they wanted to participate in the exchange's trading, according to a complaint filed by the SEC on Wednesday, Dec. 27.
However, NBC News determined it seemed to be a fraudulent online electronics company. Its website is no longer active, but its archives remain online.
Money transmitted to North Dimension by FTX customers for their personal use allegedly funded Alameda's trading activity and other Bankman-Fried enterprises.
North Dimension's website did not mention Alameda or Bankman-Fried's name. The firm claimed to offer mobile phones, computers, and other things from the same Berkeley address in California as FTX US.
North Dimension's archived website claimed, "Our vision is to become most popular website for purchasing mobile phones and electronics by offering complete product information and a transparent purchasing procedure."
Why FTX or Bankman-Fried developed a bogus web electronics company named North Dimension is unknown. NBC News said the former FTX CEO refused to comment.
Based on the public documents, North Dimension was formally established in Delaware in August 2020, over two years after FTX first opened for business.
The Seattle law firm Fenwick & West, where FTX's current chief regulatory officer, Daniel Friedberg, worked before joining the crypto empire, drafted both its incorporation documents and those of a subsidiary named North Wireless Dimension.
According to NBC News, Friedberg worked as an executive for a software business that developed games for internet casinos around the time of the Ultimate Bet poker incident in the early 2000s.
Related Story: FTX Lawsuit: Alameda Research Execs Claim Sam Bankman-Fried Took Billions of Dollars in Secret Loans
Involved Bank
FTX consumers that sent money to North Dimension presumably used Silvergate Bank, a major crypto industry bank in San Diego. FTX bankruptcy records reveal North Dimension has two Silvergate accounts.
Congress is investigating Silvergate for its position as FTX's primary banking partner. Silvergate said last week that it was investigating FTX-related banking activity after receiving a request for details from four senators.
The bank informed the senators that it had performed extensive due diligence on FTX and its connected businesses before accepting FTX as a client and after that. "We have a track record of closing accounts that are used for purposes outside of their expected use," the bank stated.
Previous Headlines
This month, Bankman-Fried was indicted. Last week, he was deported from the Bahamas, where he had been hiding out since the early days of November after his firm went bankrupt.
After posting bail, he is being held in the comfort of his own home in California.
On Dec. 21, in the Southern District of New York, two of his former coworkers, Carolyn Ellison and Gary Wang, pled guilty to federal fraud charges.
Related Story: Binance to Help Regulate Crypto with Chamber of Digital Commerce-Is It Following FTX's Footsteps?
