Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, told ABC News that he “did not know that there [was] any improper use of customer funds” at his company, amid speculation customer deposits were used for trading by Alameda Research, FTX’s brokerage arm.
See related article: Sam Bankman-Fried points blame for FTX collapse to Alameda, says he was blindsided
Fast facts
- “I really, deeply wish that I had taken a lot more responsibility for understanding what the details were of what was going on,” Bankman-Fried told ABC News in an article published on Thursday.
- “I should have been on top of this, and I feel really, really bad and regretful that I wasn’t. A lot of people got hurt. And that’s on me,” Bankman-Fried said.
- Bankman-Fried tweeted on Thursday that when FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, he was sure the U.S. unit FTX US was solvent. “To my knowledge, it still is today,” he wrote.
- On Wednesday, he told the New York Times DealBook Summit that he “didn’t knowingly commingle funds,” in response to allegations client funds at FTX were siphoned off and used for crypto trading at Alameda Research.
- FTX, formerly one of the world’s largest trading platforms for cryptocurrencies and valued at US$32 billion earlier this year, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Nov. 11, along with Alameda and dozens of other affiliated companies.
See related article: Sam Bankman-Fried could face decades in jail if convicted of law violations in FTX collapse, lawyers say
