Sam Bankman Fried, the incarcerated founder of FTX, revealed that the Bankruptcy Planners who worked on the FTX case siphoned billions from the exchange fast fast-tracking its collapse.
SBF, in an interview with Tucker Carlson from the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, New York, revealed sordid details about the dark days of FTX while answering other questions ranging from his finances to his newfound prison life.
SBF explained the intricacies of the FTX bankruptcy filing. The Former Crypto Billionaire said that if the exchange had not gone bankrupt, it would have had $15 billion in liabilities and about $93 billion in assets today.
He revealed that the Bankruptcy planners siphoned tens of billions of dollars worth of funds.
In the Interview, the FTX founder revealed his donations to the Republican and Democratic Parties. However, his political activities didn’t pay off, as none of the parties supported him when FTX collapsed.
Life in Prison
In his interview, SBF described prison as “dystopian.” The FTX founder claimed he was not in physical danger, and he even shared a unit with high-profile inmates like Sean “Diddy” Combs, whom he called “kind.”
He has made friends in the prison, plays chess with ex gangsters, and has started rereading novels.
Despite the positives, SBF acknowledged the psychological toll of incarceration.
SBF estimated he’d be in his late 40s or 57 upon release, depending on reductions, but dodged any direct appeals for clemency.
The FTX founder finally confirmed that his financial position is currently dire, a sharp fall from his $26 billion peak in the company’s heyday.
How FTX Collapsed
FTX, once a leading cryptocurrency exchange, went bankrupt in November 2022 due to mismanagement, fraud, and a liquidity crisis. These three factors led to one of the crypto industry’s most spectacular collapses.
Founded by Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) in 2019, FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 11, 2022, after a series of events exposed its financial instability.
The problem began when CoinDesk’s report revealed that Alameda Research, SBF’s trading firm, held a massive $14.6 billion position in FTX’s native token, FTT, far exceeding the value of its circulating supply.
This raised red flags about FTX’s solvency, as Alameda and FTX were closely intertwined. On November 6, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao announced plans to dump $529 million in FTT, sparking a bank run. Customers withdrew over $6 billion in days, but FTX couldn’t fulfill requests, revealing a gaping liquidity hole.
Investigations revealed massive fraud and misappropriation of funds, leading to the arrest of SBF and his eventual incarceration.
