Barbara Fried - REDBROWARD

A lawsuit filed Tuesday in Federal Court claims the cryptocurrency company FTX paid Broward Democrat consultant Barbara Miller $14,000 a month to run its “hackathon” charity event. FTX filed the lawsuit against Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried, parents of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

According to The New York Times, “Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried, longtime Stanford law professors, of using their ‘access and influence within the FTX enterprise to enrich themselves.’ The lawsuit seeks to claw back millions of dollars the couple received from their son.”

Barbara Miller is the sister of Joe Bankman.

REDBROWARD was first to exposed the pivotal roles Barbara Miller and Joe Bankman played in the development of the 2022 FTX Hackathon And Crypto Summit which promised a $1,000,000 prize to Broward school students.

In a February 2022 Facebook post, Miller’s husband, James Fox Miller wrote, “Barbara is working for FTX and really enjoying it. Her goal in life has always been to leave the world a little better than she found it. Sam is doing it big-time.”

In March 2022, three Broward high school students won $500,000 for their entry in the FTX Hackathon and Crypto Summit at the FTX Arena in Miami.

Since 2021, the event welcomed students from Broward, Palm Beach and Miami Dade. In a promotional video, Bankman said the 2023 event would welcome students from across the United States.

But, according to this new lawsuit, the Hackathon was a “flagrant waste of FTX Group funds.”

Calling it “a high-profile and expensive bust,” the lawsuit claims attendance for the Hackathon was fewer than 1,200 people in the Miami Arena which has a 19,000 person capacity. FTX lawyers claim the Hackathon cost more than $2.3 million dollars.

The FTX lawsuit claims Barbara Miller was paid $14,000 a month to plan the “high-cost, low-turnout flop.”

Barbara Fried speaks to Barbara Miller (standing behind Kevin O’Leary)

Following the arrest of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, investigators want to know how involved his parents Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried were in his cryptocurrency scheme. Published reports have focused upon Joe Bankman’s role as a legal advisor as well as a driving force behind the philanthropic efforts of the FTX Foundation. These reports claim Barbara Fried had little to no involvement in FTX.

However, pictures of the March 2022 FTX Hackathon and Crypto Summit in Miami appear to show Barbara Fried had a front row seat for the festivities.

As REDBROWARD previously reported, the FTX Hackathon was organized by Joe Bankman and his sister Barbara Miller, a Broward Democrat political lobbyist. One of Miller’s clients, Broward School Board Member Debbie Hixon, was paid to help enroll students from Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties. While Joe Bankman and Debbie Hixom were centerstage at the event, Barbara Miller was relegated to a behind the scenes role.

Photos and video of the event appear show Barbara Fried sitting in the front row of the audience alongside her brother-in-law James Fox Miller. While the photos are not proof of involvement in FTX business decisions, it shows Barbara Fried did leave her Stanford, California home to partake in the FTX lifestyle with her family.