Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the former CEO of the defunct FTX cryptocurrency exchange, has been questioned for the first time since the business’s demise and has categorically denied any wrongdoing.
SBF stated in an interview with YouTuber Tiffany Fong that he did not have backdoor access to FTX, in contrast to claims made in the public, where he altered accounts. The interview was released on November 29.
SBF recognized his error in handling Alameda’s balance sheet at the same time, calling the circumstance “a poorly labeled accounting thing”.
“I certainly wasn’t like building some back door in this system. I could barely use the system. <…> I knew this system from a user interface perspective. <…> I was incorrect on Alameda’s balances on FTX by a fairly large number and embarrassingly large new one, and it was because of a very poorly labelled accounting thing,” he said.
Interestingly, SBF asserted that the FTX collapse was actually brought on by a “massive correlation of things during a free market moves,” not the alleged liquidity crisis.
“Liquidity wasn’t what caused that crash. What caused the crash was something else which is very embarrassing that I underestimated, which is the massive correlation of things during a free market moves, especially when they’re triggered by peer over the position itself and the massive size of those moves,” he added.
Dispute with attorneys
According to Bankman-Fried, his attorneys opposed him accepting full responsibility for the disaster. He stated during the interview that the attorneys did not agree with the strategy of making public posts. It’s important to note that SBF updated clients on the situation’s development on Twitter frequently following the collapse.
Notably, authorities have been asking for consumer protection in the wake of the FTX collapse, and Sam Bankman-Fried is dealing with a mountain of legal issues.
As reported by Finbold, the FTX founder and the exchange’s promoters have been sued in an $11 billion class action. According to the lawsuit filed before a Florida court, FTX is accused of violating yield-bearing crypto accounts associated with the exchange.
In fact, there are more requests to extradite Bankman-Fried to the US so he may be charged with contributing to the collapse.
Additionally, investors and users of the exchange are awaiting a potential course of action regarding any potential for reimbursement.