'I Didn't Steal Funds, and I Certainly Didn't Stash Billions Away': Sam Bankman-Fried Speaks for the First Time Since His Arrest
The disgraced FTX founder seemingly laid out his defense in a lengthy blog post as he faces several fraud charges.
By Sam Silverman •
Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has a lot to say.
SBF, who is out on bond after being arrested last month on fraud charges, spoke out for the first time since his arrest in a lengthy blog post on Substack. The public statement comes after the collapse of his FTX and Alameda Research crypto empire, which cost customers and investors billions in lost assets.
In what he calls an "FTX Pre-Mortem Overview," Bankman-Fried seemingly laid out his defense argument, pointing blame at Alameda's leadership and the volatile nature of the crypto industry just weeks after he pleaded not guilty to eight criminal fraud charges.
The post claims his crypto hedge fund, Alameda, "failed to sufficiently hedge against the risk of an extreme market crash: the hundred billion of assets had only a few billion dollars of hedges." SBF also reiterated that he wasn't in charge of Alameda after handing the CEO role to his former girlfriend Caroline Ellison in 2021.
He went on to cite the "crypto winter," per CNN, which left crypto firms Three Arrows Capital, Voyager and Celsius bankrupt following a decline in the value of digital assets. According to SBF, the companies' demise was a result of the downturn in the industry partnered with Alameda's "contagion" that spread to FTX. He wrote he feels a "very substantial recovery" is possible and claims he was forced into filing for bankruptcy.
His recent sentiments appear to echo previous remarks he made in November while he defended his innocence to several outlets, including The New York Times, after filing for bankruptcy ahead of his arrest.
Despite SBF's claims, prosecutors say Alameda used customer funds from FTX to make up for the hedge fund's losses in what they call "one of the biggest financial frauds in American history."
But SBF still vehemently denies wrongdoing, writing "I didn't steal funds, and I certainly didn't stash billions away."
