Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, tried to distance himself from the fraud suggestion in his first public appearance since his company’s collapse stunned investors and cost creditors billions of dollars in losses.
Speaking to The New York Times’ Dealbook Summit with Andrew Ross Sorkin against the advice of his attorneys, Bankman-Fried said he did not intentionally commingle client funds at FTX with his funds at Alameda Research, a private equity firm.
The liquidity crisis at FTX occurred after Bankman-Fried secretly transferred $10 billion of FTX client funds to Alameda Research, Reuters reported, citing two people familiar with the matter. At least $1 billion in customer funds were lost, the people said.
Bankman-Fried told Reuters that the company “didn’t go undercover” but misread its “confusing internal label.”
FTX filed for bankruptcy and Bankman-Fried stepped down as CEO on November 11, after rival exchange Binance pulled out of a bailout deal after traders pulled $6 billion from the platform in three days.
“By the evening of November 6th, we had put all the data together … it was supposed to be part of the dashboard that I always look at … and when we looked, there was a serious problem,” Bankman said. Fried. .
Bankman-Fried added that she “never attempted to commit fraud” and does not personally hold criminal charges against her.
“The real answer is that I don’t care. I will have time and space to think about myself and my future,” he said.
FTX’s implosion comes as a surprise for the 30-year-old entrepreneur, who a year before the cryptocurrency boom achieved a net worth estimated at $26.5 billion by Forbes. After launching FTX in 2019, he became a high-profile political donor and pledged to donate most of his earnings to charities.
Since FTX filed for bankruptcy, Bankman-Fried has distanced herself from the image she portrays in media interviews and on Capitol Hill, telling a Vox reporter that her defense of the crypto regulatory framework is “just PR” and her discussions about ethics in the industry. at least partially on the front.
Bankman-Fried said he was “confused” as to why FTX’s US entity was not handling customer withdrawals. Payments are currently suspended for US and international customers.
“To my knowledge, all the American clients here and all the American-regulated entities, I think, at least in terms of client assets, are fine,” he said, adding that derivatives contracts at one of its U.S. subsidiaries are “to He added that he was “put on bail”.
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