'I would like to start by formally stating, under oath: I fucked up'

I would like to start by formally stating, under oath:

I fucked up.

I know that it doesn’t mean much to say that I’m sorry. And so I’m dedicating as much of myself as I can to doing right by customers. When all is said and done, I’ll judge myself primarily by one metric: whether I have eventually been able to make customers whole. If I fail our customers in this regard, I have failed myself.

Last year, my net worth was valued at $20b.

Today, I would be wrong to say that I have nothing: I have a loving family, and food on my plate, and that’s more than life has given billions of people. But last I saw, I believe my bank account had about $100k in it. I don’t know for sure, because I have been denied access to many of my own personal passwords, data, documents, and accounts.

As of today, I and many other members of FTX International’s former management team are missing access to key data–data that could help inform customers, inform the Chapter 11 team’s decisions, and inform foreign regulators looking after FTX International. Nearly all of this data is held by the Chapter 11 team.

In fact, many of us are still missing access to our own personal data, which is being held hostage by the Chapter 11 team’s leadership. When we have asked for access to our own personal data and passwords, an example response reads “you should take steps, as we’ve suggested to others in the same position, to reset 2FA/passwords for any relevant personal accounts”.

As such, much of my testimony is less confident and detailed than I would want it to be, and I apologize if I am unable to confidently answer completely reasonable questions. I unfortunately cannot access most of FTX’s current or historical data right now in order to explore or confirm my understanding. I also cannot access most of my own notes, writings, spreadsheets, data, or email. Mr. Ray’s team has even refused to return to me my credentials for purely personal accounts. I deeply regret giving in to pressure to sign forms that precipitated the Chapter 11 filing just a few days after FTX International became potentially insolvent. Among other things, the Chapter 11 team was thrust into a very difficult situation, and I worry that they were given very misleading information by a few members of the FTX US team when they joined. They are trying to manage multiple complex global entities and systems without support from many of the teams who used to run them. I believe it will be extremely hard, if not impossible, for the Chapter 11 team to move forward constructively without working cooperatively with the many foreign jurisdictions that have direct regulatory and operational control over FTX International and its subsidiaries.

I have offered, many times, to help the Chapter 11 team. To cite just one example, I would have been able to easily collect some pieces of data they expressed an inability to find in their court filings. I have not received responses to those offers, or to any other messages I have sent them.

I have reached out to Mr. Ray and the Chapter 11 team numerous times. Sometimes I’ve been requesting access to my own data, but other times I’ve been attempting to alert them to potentially important information for their jobs and duties to creditors and customers of FTX.

I have sent five emails to Mr. Ray. Mr. Ray has never responded, nor has he reached out to me to communicate in any other ways.

He has not responded, for instance, to an email of mine that stated: “I have potentially pertinent information concerning future opportunities and financing for FTX and its creditors. I also believe that I have relevant financial information about FTX US, and further that I have potentially relevant regulatory information concerning FTX. I would love to talk to you, whether it's via email or phone, and to work constructively with you and the Chapter 11 team to do what's best for customers.”

To the best of my knowledge, FTX US has been and remains solvent, and could pay off all of its customers in full tomorrow. Unfortunately, the Chapter 11 team has frozen the FTX US exchange, blocking customers’ access to their account information and funds.

The customers who have lost assets are those who traded on the FTX International platforms, which do not accept US residents. My primary focus right now is to do right by the customers of FTX International who were hurt. I am fighting to make these customers as whole as I can, and I will keep doing so as long as I see any pathway forward, because that is my duty.

I believe that there is a credible path forward to put together billions of dollars of additional funds for FTX International customers. That would involve significant external financing, which in turn I believe would require the FTX exchange to restart operations. Doing so would be significantly easier if the Chapter 11 team worked cooperatively with the foreign jurisdictions that have regulatory authority over FTX International and its subsidiaries.

I have heard complaints that the Chapter 11 team is refusing to respond to regulatory inquiries from foreign regulators, sometimes at the risk of employees going to jail. I have also heard complaints of the Chapter 11 team freezing or otherwise interfering with funds duly belonging to various operating entities of FTX International. I hope that this is greatly exaggerated, or at least that it was a product of an initial unfamiliarity with the company and industry that has now passed. It has been a month since the Chapter 11 filing and the password to my LinkedIn account still hasn’t been returned, though, so I’m not overly optimistic.

I have a duty towards the colleagues and supporters who fought for FTX day after day, and who were deeply hurt by a collapse they don’t bear any responsibility for.