Sam Bankman-Fried says he ‘didn’t ever try to commit fraud’ with FTX funds sent to Alameda
- At the New York Times’ Dealbook Summit, the FTX founder said he did not mean to commingle customer funds with his trading firm Alameda Research
- Bankman-Fried said he regretted focusing on the bigger picture at FTX at the expense of risk management
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, attempted to distance himself from suggestions of fraud in his first public appearance since his company’s collapse stunned investors and left creditors facing losses totalling billions of dollars.
Speaking via video link at the New York Times’ Dealbook Summit with Andrew Ross Sorkin on Wednesday, Bankman-Fried said he did not knowingly commingle customer funds on FTX with funds at his proprietary trading firm, Alameda Research.
“I didn’t ever try to commit fraud,” Bankman-Fried said in the hour-long interview, adding that he doesn’t personally think he has any criminal liability.
He also denied knowing the full scale of Alameda’s position on FTX, claiming that it caught him by surprise.
The liquidity crunch at FTX came after Bankman-Fried secretly moved US$10 billion of FTX customer funds to Alameda Research, Reuters reported, citing two people familiar with the matter. At least US$1 billion in customer funds had vanished, the people said.