Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced co-founder of FTX, reportedly stated in more than 250 documents released to the media that he feels like "one of the most hated people in the world." In his words, the former CEO of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange also said that "there will probably never be anything I can do to make my lifetime impact net positive."
Bankman-Fried's Private Documents Point Fingers at Those Responsible for FTX's Demise
Sam Bankman-Fried shared 250 pages of records with reporter Tiffany Fong while he was under house arrest, and she later gave some of the information to The New York Times. The truth is that I did what I felt was correct, he wrote in one particular X thread that Bankman-Fried never published, but he didn't think there was any way he could change how people saw him. Bankman-Fried gave her access to the documents, according to Fong, because she is an independent reporter and does not "work for anyone."
According to The Times' story, Bankman-Fried assigns Caroline Ellison a lot of the blame for the failure. He allegedly told her she wasn't qualified to lead Alameda Research, and he claimed she sobbed at their meeting. In a particular paper headed "Alameda's Failure to Hedge," Bankman-Fried stated:
She consistently sidestepped my efforts to talk about risk management until it was too late. She felt worse every time I suggested something, despite my best efforts. Being ex-spouses, I'm sure, didn't help.
Sam Trabucco, the previous CEO of Alameda, was also criticized. Bankman-Fried claimed in one memo that Trabucco "was in the process of quiet quitting" in 2021. Trabucco reportedly claimed that he liked "going on dates with a ton of guys while sailing around the world on a boat." CZ, also known as Changpeng Zhao of Binance, was mentioned in a letter concerning a recollection from 2019. Alameda's hedging methods, however, appear to bear a large portion of the burden, and according to Bankman-Fried, if Alameda had hedged properly, the issues wouldn't have arisen.
"If Alameda had hedged, it would have remained solvent and prevented the entire unhappy story," writes Bankman-Fried.
Do you agree or disagree with Bankman-Fried's writings? Post your ideas and viewpoints on this topic in the comments area below.