Ex-FTX CEO Says In Mind-Blowing Interview He Unwittingly Scammed

From Nassau, in the Bahamas, where he resides, Sam Bankman-Fried has resolved to accept a few interviews after having long limited his communication to tweets.

Still to believe “SBF”, there would not have been a department dedicated to risk management at FTX (!).

Sam Bakman-Fried doesn’t see himself as a crook

When George Stephanopoulos, the morning presenter ofABC “Good Morning America,” begins his interview with founder, and now ex-CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, with the phrase that “ many people look at you and see Bernard Madoff “, the tone is to say the least given. However, the one nicknamed “SBF” refuses to be compared to the American crook, known for having used a Ponzi scheme that led to the embezzlement of 65 billion dollars.

Sam Bankman-Fried, who stepped down as head of FTX on November 11, 2022, repeatedly dodges questions about his potential knowledge that funds deposited on FTX were used to finance creditors of Alameda Research, a subsidiary of FTX. On George Stephanopoulos’ third attempt, SBF begins by admitting that he had no knowledge of this, despite assertions to the contrary by Caroline Ellison, the now ex-CEO of Alameda Research.

During the interview, unconvinced by SBF’s long seconds of hesitation, George Stephanopoulos returns for the umpteenth time to the question of this funding from Alabama Research. But this time, Sam Bankman-Fried is not so much denying his knowledge as the legality of the action, saying he ” did not know that there was any illegal use of FTX client funds “.

An interview strongly centered on his person

During the 10 minutes of interview, one of the most embarrassing points is that at no time, or almost, the fate of millions of FTX customers is mentioned. On the contrary, in a country fond of this type of “truth” interview, the questions were mainly directed towards the person of Sam Bankman-Fried. This, like the risk that he could be sentenced to a prison term in particular. Or to the personal fortune of SBF, estimated this summer again at more than 30 billion dollars. In this interview, the entrepreneur claims that he had “only” $100,000 left in his accounts, compared to around $20 billion this summer.

And to explain in particular this dizzying fall, which also concludes the interview, Sam Bankman-Fried believes that this is due to his lack of a risk management plan. ” If I had only dedicated an hour a day to risk management within FTX, I don’t think any of this would have happened. “, he says to George Stephanopoulos. A concession, if true, which is particularly unlikely for a company of this magnitude.

Source : ABC