Sam-Bankman Fried Wanted an In-Person Meeting With New FTX CEO

image-Sam-Bankman Fried Wanted an In-Person Meeting With New FTX CEO

February 1, 2023

Bankman-Fried has been trying to contact FTX’s new leadership, but his motivations are being questioned. 

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried tried to organize an in-person meeting with its current CEO John Ray weeks after being charged with fraud. 

  • According to newly released emails filed by Federal prosecutors on Monday, Bankman-Fried said he wanted to be helpful to the asset recovery process where he could. 
  • On December 30, he asked whether Ray’s team was responsible for draining assets from Alameda Research, which he’d read about in a media article. 
  • “If this is your team moving the assets to custody, great!” Bankman-Fried wrote. “If not, I worry it might be a hacker — possibly the same one as a month and a half ago.” A mysterious hacker drained $500 million from FTX shortly after the company filed for bankruptcy in November, though their identity remains a mystery.
  • Ray has previously stated that Bankman-Fried is yet to give him any details on the bankruptcy that he doesn’t already know. 
  • The former billionaire also contacted FTX US’s general counsel earlier this month, which the government saw as an attempt to sway potential witness testimony. Bankman-Fried’s lawyer said it was merely an innocuous attempt to assist with the bankruptcy process.
  • Bankman-Fried has previously spoken critically of Ray and the law firm Sullivan and Cromwell for trying to extort as many fees from the bankruptcy process as possible. 

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