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‘I didn’t steal money’ insists FTX founder: Bankman-Fried hints boss of rival company is responsible for company collapse
The disgraced founder of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX said he was “not stealing money” and appeared to blame the boss of a rival company for the collapse.
Sam Bankman-Fried, 30, a former billionaire, is under house arrest in the US, awaiting trial on allegations that he spearheaded “one of the largest financial frauds in American history.”
He is accused of stealing billions from clients to offset losses at his Alameda Research hedge fund, buying lavish properties and funding political donations.
House arrest: Sam Bankman-Fried is accused of orchestrating what officials have called ‘one of the biggest financial frauds in American history’
He has denied the allegations, which could face up to 115 years in prison. There is a court case on October 2.
In a blog post, he said he “definitely didn’t have billions stashed away” and claimed FTX had £6.5 billion in assets when he handed over control to veteran insolvency specialist John Ray in November shortly before it collapsed after exposing a billion-dollar black hole in his accounts.
“Despite the insolvency and despite processing approximately $5bn (£4.1bn) in withdrawals in the past few days, FTX retains significant assets,” he added.
The comments came a day after FTX said it had recovered more than £4bn in assets.
Bankman-Fried said FTX could have survived if it had “a few weeks” to raise funds to meet withdrawal requests.
He also attributed the collapse to mismanagement of investments at Alameda, saying he had not managed the fund “in recent years.”
He accused Changpeng Zhao, boss of rival Binance, of “a targeted attack on Alameda assets.”
“No money was stolen. Alameda lost money in a market crash,” he said. The allegations contrast sharply with those made by former Alameda boss and Bankman-Fried’s ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison, who confessed to knowingly engaging in “illegal” business tactics.