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FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried diverted customer funds from the start of his cryptocurrency exchange to support his hedge fund, Alameda Research, and to make venture investments, real-estate purchases and political donations, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The SEC said those moves were concealed from Silicon Valley investors who poured $1.8 billion into FTX. U.S. investors contributed $1.1 billion of that total. Mr. Bankman-Fried also failed to disclose special treatment that FTX gave to Alameda on its platform, and financial risks posed by the relationship between the exchange and the hedge fund, the SEC alleged in its civil fraud lawsuit.