© Reuters
Investing.com – Former multi-billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) resigned from his official duties with FTX on Nov. 11. Until that date, he was CEO and, according to the current state of knowledge, he is personally responsible for the crisis. His former girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, was CEO of Alameda Research. They used billions of dollars of FTX client money to further Alameda Research’s business, which turned out to be their biggest mistake after the fact.
Just yesterday, SBF tweeted that he was personally in contact with the authorities and that he continues to try to raise capital in order to achieve the best possible result for FTX users. The capital shortfall that must be filled to repay all customers is over $8 billion.
SBF also announced yesterday that FTX assets exceeded claims. New FTX CEO John Ray believes SBF’s statements are apparently so misleading that he has taken a public stance on it:
“As previously announced, Mr. Bankman-Fried resigned on November 11 from his roles with @FTX_Official FTX US, Alameda Research Ltd. and their direct and indirect affiliates.
Mr. Bankman-Fried no longer works at @FTX_Official, FTX US or Alameda Research Ltd. and does not speak on their behalf”.
This means that SBF has no say in current events and cannot negotiate on FTX’s behalf either with the authorities or with potential lenders.
Singapore’s state-owned holding company, Temasek Holdings, has announced that it will fully amortize the $275 million invested in two rounds of financing between October 2021 and January 2022.
Prior to acquiring minority stakes of 1% in FTX International and 1.5% in FTX US, an extensive due diligence review showed that the business was profitable. The latest developments lead Temasek to conclude the following:
“After this investment, it is evident that our confidence in the actions, judgment and leadership of Sam Bankman-Fried, which has formed from our interactions with him and the opinions expressed in our discussions with other , seems to have been erroneous”.
By Marco Oehrl