The man at the center of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX made his first public appearance since the saga began, telling a New York hearing on Wednesday that it was never his intention to commit fraud.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the 30-year-old founder of FTX, appeared at the New York Times Dealbook Summit on Wednesday, for an interview with reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin about what happened to make his cryptocurrency company go under. into bankruptcy earlier this month. .
The company, valued at more than US$32 billion, entered bankruptcy protection on November 11 after a series of turbulent days spent trying to resolve a liquidity crunch by merging -se with a rival until the deal collapsed and succumbed to a run on the bank when traders pulled $6 billion in funds in three days.
The filings show the company owes nearly $10 billion to various creditors and is missing at least $1 billion in customer deposits.
Among numerous allegations, customer deposits at FTX appear to have been used as capital and collateral for loans to an investment firm named Alameda affiliated with him, an allegation that amounts to fraud and which he strongly denied.
“I’m so sorry”
“I never tried to defraud anyone,” he told Sorkin, “I didn’t knowingly commingle funds.”
While acknowledging that mistakes were made, Bankman-Fried rejected repeated attempts to characterize what happened at his cryptocurrency company as malicious or illegal.
“I’m very sorry for what happened,” he said. “I was excited about FTX’s prospects a month ago, I saw it as a thriving and growing business.”
Bankman-Fried has seen his personal net worth evaporate in the debacle, from more than $26 billion a year ago to “almost nothing” today, and has insisted he owns none of the money that’s gone.
“I have no hidden funds here. Everything I have, I am disclosing,” he said.
“I have a credit card that works… [and] hundreds of dollars or something, in a bank account.”
LOOK | Former regulator influences FTX debacle:
The former regulatory executive assesses the collapse of FTX
Charley Cooper, a former executive at commodities regulator CFTC, says the FTX collapse is a good lesson in the dangers inherent in the cryptocurrency space.
He says that according to him, there are enough funds in FTX to give their money to users. But his hands are tied because he no longer has a formal role in the company since it went into receivership.
“I think the withdrawals could be opened today and everybody could be sanitized,” he said.
Bankman-Fried has been active on Twitter since the debacle began, but her appearance Wednesday marks her first public appearance since the saga began.
There was speculation that he was going to appear in person, but he eventually appeared via video link from the Bahamas, where he lives.
Legal problems
Sorkin asked Bankman-Fried if she didn’t appear in person because she’s worried about being within reach of U.S. agencies, such as the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are investigating what happened in FTX.
Bankman-Fried appeared to dodge that question, commenting that he believes he can still enter the United States legally.
“I have seen many of the hearings that have been held [and] I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m there for some time talking about what happened,” he said, adding that he “doesn’t personally believe” he has any criminal liability to worry about.
That said, he said his legal team is “not very supportive” of his decision to appear at the summit and speak publicly about what happened at FTX. His lawyers’ advice was to “back into a hole,” he joked.