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U.S. prosecutors charged Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, with a host of financial crimes and campaign finance violations on Tuesday, alleging he played a central role in the rapid collapse of FTX and hid its problems from the public and investors. The indictment says that, beginning in 2019, Bankman-Fried intentionally devised a scheme and artifice to defraud FTX's customers and investors, diverting their money to pay expenses and debts at his crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research, and to make lavish real estate purchases and large political donations. Bankman-Fried was arrested Monday by Bahamian authorities at the request of the U.S. government, which charged him with eight criminal violations, ranging from wire fraud to money laundering to conspiracy to commit fraud. He was also charged with making illegal campaign contributions, a notable charge as Bankman-Fried was one of the largest political donors this year. The indictment is on to