Jan 12, 2023 - Economy

Sam Bankman-Fried sticks to his script

Lucinda Shen

Photo illustration of Sam Bankman-Fried with speech bubbles. — Photo illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios. Photo: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried on Thursday published his account of how the crypto company collapsed.

Why it matters: Bankman-Fried is sticking to his claims of innocence, even though two close confidants already have pleaded guilty to fraud and are cooperating with federal prosecutors.

Background: Bankman-Fried mostly rehashs what he's said before, including in the leaked Congressional testimony he planned to give before his arrest.

"I didn't steal funds," he writes, adding: "Even now, I believe that if FTX International were to reboot, there would be a real possibility of customers being made substantially whole."

The intrigue: Last week, Bankman-Fried's attorneys asked for his seized $465 million stake in stock trading app Robinhood, saying it was needed to fund the Bankman-Fried's legal defense.

That notably contradicted Bankman-Fried's assertion to multiple publications—including Axios — that his primary concern was making FTX customers whole.
In his Thursday post, Bankman-Fried blames his lawyers for the contradiction, writing: "I have, for instance, offered to contribute nearly all of my personal shares in Robinhood to customers — or 100%, if the Chapter 11 team would honor my D&O legal expense indemnification."

Read Bankman-Fried's full statement below, or on Substack:

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Sam Bankman-Fried sticks to his script

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