Disgraced FTX founder debunks rumor he fled to Argentina in text message: ‘No’
Where is Sam Bankman Fried? The answer is no small thing.
On Friday, he resigned as CEO of FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange that spectacularly imploded this week. The sudden demise and bankruptcy of FTX has eroded already shaky confidence in the crypto sector, sparking renewed calls for tighter regulation in the space.
After his resignation crypto watcher speculated that he fled to Argentina on a private jet. But did he? Reuters reported Saturday morning that it texted him asking if he had done so, to which he replied “no.”
Turns out he went to the Bahamas instead, where FTX is based. Bahamian police and regulators interviewed him on Saturday, citing a “person familiar with the matter,” according to Bloomberg.
The intrigues surrounding the crypto mogul’s whereabouts are remarkable given how outspoken and approachable he previously seemed.
“You would email the FTX press team and Sam Bankman-Fried himself would email you back. He was very accessible, very accessible,” he said Wall Street Journal Reporter Caitlin Ostroff in a Friday episode of The diary podcast.
But just a few months ago, Bankman-Fried seemed to ramble on about a simple question about where he lives, telling reporters on Zoom Call, “I, uh, well, I’m sorry, I – I’m hesitant because I sleep on a bag most of the time.” …I’m alive, I don’t know. I actually live alone, but I don’t sleep there. I mostly sleep on sofas and beanbags.”
In that call he was asked about the boundaries between FTX and Alameda Research. FTX has loaned billions of dollars to Alameda Research, money reported by CoinDesk and then used to fund risky bets Wall Street Journal.
Billionaire Mark Cuban said Friday Bankman-Fried ran FTX in a “stupid” way: “So what does Sam Bankman do? He’s just giving me more, giving me more, giving me more, so I’m going to borrow money, lend it to my subsidiary and hope and pretend to myself that the FTT tokens that are there on my balance sheet will receive their worth.”
Bankman-Fried isn’t the only disgraced crypto mogul leaving people guessing about his whereabouts. Do Kwon, the co-founder of Terraform Labs in South Korea, has denied he is on the run from authorities in his home country, where he has been accused of price rigging on the Terra stablecoin that collapsed in May. Korean prosecutors claimed in September that he was “apparently on the run” despite his claims.
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