“Everyone was fooled by Sam Bankman-Fried’s big gamble,” he said BBC said after the conclusion of the FTX founder’s financial fraud trial last week.
The verdict read: The former crypto king, also known as SBF, was guilty on seven counts. He faces more than 100 years in prison.
The trial lasted a little less than a month and the jury reached its verdict within a few hours. Some were surprised at how quickly it happened. Again, if you read “How Sam Bankman-Fried’s Genius Cult Fooled Everyone.” Forbes or “How SBF fooled everyone – including me” in Assets Last year you may have been under the impression that SBF was some kind of mastermind.
But he wasn’t. Many critics of SBF and crypto as a whole had criticized the industry and, yes, SBF in particular long before that The FTX scam unraveled last November.
We saw it coming
James Blockwho runs a newsletter under the name Dirty Bubble Media, had been following FTX and its sister company Alameda Research and found that the latter was likely insolvent before FTX’s bankruptcy news broke last year. FTX funneled customer funds to Alameda Research, which made risky bets and investments.
Marc Cohodes, a well-known short seller on Wall Street, put it simply in a short tweet just a month before FTX collapsed: “Last month people came forward with some great things on @sbf_ftx and FTX. It’s just a question of when this charrade explodes, not if. I suggest SBF come clean, and quickly.
The tweet may have been deleted
So, aside from the obvious victims – the FTX customers that SBF stole – who exactly is “everyone” who was scammed by SBF? The very smart tech evangelists and venture capitalists, of course.
1. Sequoia Capital
Perhaps the best example of how the fraudsters are largely the tech elite is Sequoia Capital, one of Silicon Valley’s largest venture capital firms. In 2021, FTX raised money amid the booming cryptocurrency wave. Sequoia Capital listened to SBF’s pitch and was immediately excited
“I LOVE THIS FOUNDER,” one partner wrote during the pitch. “I’m a 10 out of 10,” said another. And these VCs’ admiration for SBF during the meeting continued, to the point where the company invested $213.5 million in FTX.
What did SBF say that was so tempting?
“I want FTX to be a place where you can do whatever you want with your next dollar,” Bankman-Fried said. “You can buy Bitcoin.” You can send money in any currency to any friend around the world. You can buy a banana. You can do whatever you want with your money within FTX.”
You can buy a banana.
That was part of the pitch that SBF delivered on playing video games that won Sequoia over. And how do we know that? Just before FTX collapsed, Sequoia shared the story in a blog post on your own website.
2. Anthony Scaramucci
Remember The Mooch?
Anthony Scaramucci served as White House press secretary for about 10 days in 2017 before he was unceremoniously fired by then-President Donald Trump. Scaramucci runs an investment firm, SkyBridge Capital, which has become a major supporter of cryptocurrencies in recent years. These crypto investments included $10 million that SkyBridge Capital invested in FTX after the exchange acquired a 30 percent stake in the financial firm.
According to Scaramucci, they are lost $9.6 million of that when FTX went under.
Scaramucci was one of SBF’s biggest fans for years, promoting FTX on social media and making appearances next to Bankman-Fried at numerous events.
The tweet may have been deleted
“FTX is much more than a crypto exchange” Posted Scaramucci in May last year. “I believe they are becoming the Amazon of financial services.”
As we all know, SBF’s plan ultimately failed and FTX went bankrupt less than six months later.
3. Bill Ackman
Now take billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who defended SBF – even after he was arrested for fraud in December last year. After FTX collapsed, Ackman repeatedly stood up for Bankman-Fried. Ackman claimed to believe SBF’s story that everything was on the up and up, but the company simply failed to assess certain risks.
The tweet may have been deleted
“Call me crazy but I think @sbf is telling the truth,” an Ackman tweet said in November last year. Months later, Ackman still jumped to SBF’s defense, this time penning a lengthy tweet thread He compared his own legal problems to those of SBF. However, at this point it was clear that SBF was clearly engaging in fraudulent activities and commingling customer funds.
4. Kevin O’Leary
Another big cheerleader for Sam Bankman-Fried was Kevin O’Leary. That’s right, that Shark tank Man who originally made his fortune by selling his edutainment software company.
When FTX collapsed, O’Leary was one of SBF’s most vocal defenders in the media. claim SBF simply made mistakes that any investor could make.
“I’m a bit of an advocate for Sam,” O’Leary said shortly after FTX filed for bankruptcy.
Part of O’Leary’s advocacy may be due to his work with FTX. The Shark tank The judge received $15 million from SBF as payment for promoting crypto exchanges. O’Leary claims he lost his earnings because he held on to the FTX exchange when the company went bankrupt. However, this is not entirely true; O’Leary still making millions after his FTX losses are calculated.
As more about SBF’s fraudulent activities came to light, O’Leary continued to support SBF and took over the position from Bill Ackman.
The tweet may have been deleted
“As an investor in @FTX I lost millions and was disappointed as a paid company spokesperson, but after listening to the interview I’m in the @billAckman camp about the kid!” O’Leary said End of November 2022.
5. Elon Musk
As far as we know, Elon Musk was not directly deceived by Sam Bankman-Fried like the people and companies mentioned above. Although Musk is a fan of cryptocurrencies and his companies have invested in Bitcoin and Dogecoin, there is no evidence that he was involved in FTX.
Actually, Musk before claims that he always thought there was something wrong with SBF.
But that’s not entirely true. Musk makes this list because he was fed a myth that SBF spread about himself – that he was an untouchable, well-connected crypto boss.
When FTX failed in November and SBF’s fraud came to light, many conspiracy theorists truly believed that Bankman-Fried would get away with his crimes. There were incredibly sophisticated conspiracies at the time that SBF was in cahoots with the Democratic Party and funneling money to Democratic candidates through Ukraine. Even pureeable exposed this conspiracy by the time.
However, since SBF was not immediately arrested as the Justice Department was drafting its legal case and preparing to extradite the FTX founder from his residence in the Bahamas, this flourished among conspiracy theorists.
Of course, Elon Musk was one of those people.
The tweet may have been deleted
“SBF was a major Democratic donor, so no investigation,” Musk said Posted Days after FTX collapsed.
Apparently there was an investigation into SBF and now he has been found guilty after going through a months-long trial less than a year after FTX collapsed.
As for the “big Democrat donor” accusation, it’s true. SBF donated tens of millions of dollars to Democratic candidates. But he also donated about the same amount to Republicans. However, as previously mentioned, SBF was very careful in crafting its image and therefore donated to Republicans through dark money groups in order to conceal these donations.
And Elon Musk fell for it.
Source : mashable.com