News in a Glimpse:
- In an interview, Bankman-Fried admitted that he had done a lot of things wrong and that he would give “everything” to go back in time and alter anything, but he also insisted that despite all of his errors, he “did not ever aim to perpetrate fraud on anyone.”
- Call me crazy, but I believe @sbf is telling the truth,” Bankman-Fried Ackman tweeted in response to these allegations, and O’Leary offered his support by writing on Twitter, “I lost millions as an investor in @FTX and got sandblasted as a paid spokesperson for the firm, but after listening to that interview I’m in the @billAckman camp about the kid!”
Kevin O’Leary Shows Support for SBF but Aims to Get His Money Back From FTX
In an interview, Kevin O’Leary, known as the “Shark Tank” investor of FTX and paid spokesperson of the said exchange, confessed his willingness to have his money back from the collapsed crypto exchange platform, FTX. In the same interview he also said that the crypto exchange platform itself needs to be audited first, before its former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, could be found guilty of any wrongdoing.
Furthermore, the investor also said in the interview that he have already ordered his lawyers to “keep their phasers on stun” until their team already have facts, and by then they would have his money back.The investor then said that he has no idea who is going to jail neither who is fraudulent but he assured that he will soon find the answers to these questions.
FTX was known to be one of the largest and well-known crypto exchange platforms in the industry, its fall have greatly affected the industry, and the details of mismanagement and bad governance in the platform that is slowly being unveiled as the bankruptcy proceedings continues is worsening the situation.
The platform did not have an internal accounting department, according to the most current update in the bankruptcy proceedings. Reports also indicated that it had mixed customer assets with funds belonging to Alameda Research, Bankman-cryptocurrency Fried’s trading division. According to a different story, the ailing cryptocurrency platform spent $100 million on lavish holiday houses for its workers in the Bahamas, and at least $1 billion in customer assets disappeared from the exchange in the days after it filed for bankruptcy.
The former CEO who is now being accused of fraud refuted all of the charges in a separate interview. O’Leary, who admitted that even his own accounts have already lost millions of dollars, was recently seen defending the former CEO in a tweet. The investor then asked to see transparent records of his accounts and claimed that an examination of the platform was necessary before fraud claims could be proven. Where he further stated that although FTX have a chaotic financial reports, it is still auditable given that crypto transactions are recorded in a public ledger on the blockchain.
The investor further stated that almost everyone in the crypto world is now blaming and hating on Sam Bankman-Fried, who has been labeled as a fraudster and accused of stealing money from investors – taking it to his own account and hide it somewhere. In which O’Leary asked “How does anybody know that if we have no way to audit it?” where he added that “Are they not as baseless as what Sam Bankman-Fried is saying until we have the facts?”
O’Leary and Ackman Defended Bankman-Fried
The former FTX who was then dubbed as the crypto genius was facing a lot of hatred but it seemed like he is winning the hearts of some influential investors such as Bill Ackman and Kevin O’Leary, who says claimed that they believe the FTX founder when he says he was unaware of sister company Alameda Research’s “dodgy bets. “
The two investors have shown their support for the former CEO through Twitter, as am Bankman-Fried defended himself in an interview at the New York Times Dealbook Summit on Wednesday regarding numerous accusations of his wrongdoing that have allegedly led his crypto empire to fall.
In the said interview, Bankman-Fried acknowledged that he had made a lot of mistakes and he is willing to give “anything” if he could go back in time and change it all, however despite all his mistakes he said that he “did not ever try to commit fraud on anyone.” The former CEO then remained in-line with his former statements citing that the fall of FTX was due to the ongoing market crash brought by the crypto winter. Furthermore, he claimed that he hadn’t knowingly mingled funds from the exchange with those of trading arm Alameda.
In light of these claims from Bankman-Fried, the billionaire founder of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, Ackman, tweeted and stated that “Call me crazy, but I think @sbf is telling the truth.” While O’Leary also showed his support and tweeted “I lost millions as an investor in @FTX and got sandblasted as a paid spokesperson for the firm but after listening to that interview I’m in the @billAckman camp about the kid!” It can also be remembered that O’Leary recently claimed that the founder is a “savant” when it comes to trading crypto.
The fallen crypto empire, FTX, is now under investigation for potential mishandling of customer funds, as billions of dollars remain unaccounted for, by the US federal regulators. In which this investigation reportedly centers on whether or not the said client funds were used by Alameda to cover loans that were being recalled.
Just last month, FTX and its sister company Alameda Research have already filed for Chapter 11, following that, its then CEO Sam Bankman-Fried stepped down from his position, in which he was replaced by John J. Ray III. The new FTX CEO then made a remark in a court filings claiming that he had never in his career seen “such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information” as occurred at the company.
