To some, Sam Bankman-Fried is the following Bernie Madoff, the highest of one of many largest and most damaging Ponzi schemes in trendy historical past. Or possibly he is extra like Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced former Theranos founder convicted of fraud and sentenced to greater than 11 years in jail. SBF, as he is identified, swears it is all a large screwup.

Bankman-Fried spoke for the primary time on Wednesday in a reside interview since his cryptocurrency trade, FTX, declared chapter. He did so by video hyperlink from his residence base within the Bahamas to the New York Instances DealBook Summit, the place he was grilled for over an hour on the main points of his monetary dealings and mismanagement of buyer funds and on whether or not he lied each prior to now and through the interview.

Learn extra: SBF Says He is Price ‘Near Nothing’ After FTX Crash

DealBook founder Andrew Ross Sorkin stated SBF agreed to the interview the place “nothing is off limits,” although he’s not the CEO of FTX and is presently on the heart of a number of investigations.

“What are your legal professionals telling you proper now? Are they suggesting this can be a good concept so that you can be talking?” Sorkin requested at one level. 

“No. They’re very a lot not,” SBF responded.

Listed here are a number of the most vital issues we realized from SBF’s interview:

He had a “unhealthy month”

In his bid for understatement of the 12 months, the previous billionaire acknowledged the impression his mismanagement as CEO of FTX has had on his clients and the crypto business as a complete. FTX had been the world’s second-biggest crypto trade till Nov. 2, when particulars about his monetary empire had been leaked to CoinDesk.

All advised, Alameda Analysis, SBF’s funding agency, was discovered to be $eight billion in debt. Worse, some FTX buyer funds seem to have been combined in with Alameda’s unhealthy bets.

For his half, Bankman-Fried contended that FTX.US and FTX Japan, two corporations that function in several regulatory frameworks than different FTX subsidiaries, ought to have the ability to allow buyer withdrawals. Nonetheless, SBF stated, that does not diminish the large errors he made.

“Look, I screwed up. I used to be the CEO of FTX, which means I used to be accountable,” he stated. “We tousled huge.” 

Bankman-Fried says he is price “near nothing,” insisting he has no “hidden funds.” “I feel I’ve one working bank card left, it could be $100,000 or one thing like that in that checking account,” he claimed. “All the pieces I had, even all of the loans I had, these had been issues I used to be reinvesting. I put every part I had in FTX.” 

Learn extra: The Fall of FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried: A Timeline

He denied knowingly committing fraud

Hanging over all the interview was SBF’s potential prison legal responsibility, much like Madoff and Holmes. He repeated his seemingly well-rehearsed traces that he screwed up and that he was accountable as CEO, however, he insisted, “I didn’t ever attempt to commit fraud on anybody.”

He swears he is telling the reality

Earlier than FTX filed for chapter, Bankman-Fried despatched out a tweet making an attempt to reassure clients that every part was OK. When The New York Instances’ Sorkin tried to stroll SBF by way of a timeline of what occurred, he requested whether or not SBF had been mendacity in that tweet. He additionally requested if SBF had lied within the interview.

“I do not know of instances after I lied,” Bankman-Fried responded, including he “was as truthful as I am educated to be.”

He claims political donations had been to each events

As individuals have tried to know what occurred to Bankman-Fried, FTX and all that cash, one factor individuals have seized upon are his political donations. SBF was the second-largest donor to the Democratic get together over the last election cycle, in accordance with knowledge compiled by OpenSecrets, elevating questions on whether or not he’d purchased affect in Washington, D.C.

Bankman-Fried in earlier interviews contended that he donated to each events, however selected to donate to Republicans by way of “darkish cash” organizations that are not required to reveal who funds their actions.

In Wednesday’s interview, he stated he donated to “candidates who’re outspoken in favor of doing issues now to stop the following pandemic.” He stated lots of his contributions had been throughout primaries, and on each side of the aisle. 

“I wasn’t viewing it as a partisan train,” he stated. ” It was not, you understand, this was not donating to 1 get together to beat the opposite one within the common elections right here.”

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