SBF attempted to defend himself from all fringe accusations, but the main one (embezzlement)

Feature Image: HackerNoon’s Midjourney AI, Prompt “deer in headlight, who me?”

During this process, many people have made accusations against me. Some of them–including, for instance, that I exhibited poor risk management oversight as CEO of FTX–are true. But many are not.

1. Claims have been made that I personally or through an entity attempted to manipulate the stablecoin Tether in the wake of the November 2022 crash. This is categorically false. I have never attempted to manipulate the price of Tether, and I am not aware of any activity by a company I run or own intending to manipulate the price of Tether. One such accusation was made by CZ (the CEO of Binance), in reference to a trade of size $250k. In addition to the accusation being categorically false, it is absurd to think that a trade of size $250k could materially impact the price of Tether. CZ has plenty of context to know that these claims are both absurd and false.

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      d. In addition to CZ, media has breathlessly reported that “a tether official” also believes that I attempted to manipulate Tether’s price (https://www.wsj.com/articles/rivals-worried-sam-bankman-fried-tried-to-destabiliz e-crypto-on-eve-of-ftx-collapse-11670597311). i) Again, I categorically deny this claim. I have had respect for the intelligence and authenticity of Tether’s leadership, and would think that they would be aware that such claims of manipulation are obviously false. I also understand that media can invent statements, and as such hope that this was just a case of media making something out of nothing, and that Tether’s executives themselves did not fall into the realm of conspiracy theories.

      e. And, again, I would like to put in the official Congressional Record that the claims that I attempted to manipulate the price of Tether are categorically false. I have made large mistakes this year. But it seems to have given license to some parties to propagate claims that are ridiculous, destructive, and false.

      
      

2. Claims have been made that I personally or through an entity attempted to cause the implosion of Three Arrows Capital (3AC) this year.

   1. These claims, too, are categorically false. I never took actions with the intention of triggering the implosion of 3AC, nor to my knowledge did any company I run or own.
   2. In addition to being false, the claims do not make sense to me. Alameda Research’s own insolvency was triggered by a market crash, which in turn triggered FTX’s insolvency; it would have been absurd to create a market crash in order to take out 3AC, and then in turn bankrupt my own businesses.

3. False claims have been made about buying out CZ’s equity in FTX. On Twitter, CZ claimed that “we decided to pull out as an investor” in a thread chalk full of lies.

   1. In fact, I reached out to CZ in 2021 to initiate discussions about buying them out of their stake in FTX.
   2. I initiated these discussions because, among other things, it was becoming increasingly difficult for FTX to operate with CZ as a significant equity owner. CZ was not cooperative in sending his KYC information to regulators that we were applying for licenses with.
   3. CZ threatened, at the last minute, to walk away from the negotiated buyout unless we kicked in an extra ~$75m or so. We ultimately agreed to pay the extra ~$75m because we were intent on severing relationships with CZ— something he undoubtedly surmised, and used to his advantage to extort an extra $75 million from us above the agreed-on purchase price.

4. Claims that Alameda Research would look at customer orders on FTX in order to ‘front-run customers’ or ‘hunt stop losses’

   1. To my knowledge, this never happened. To my knowledge Alameda Research didn’t have access to customer orders, let alone a desire to take advantage of them.

5. Claims that I have billions of dollars stashed away personally

   1. I’m aware of a bank account which, as best I can remember, has roughly $100k in it. While I have taken loans out of Alameda in my own name, those were not generally used for personal consumption or savings; most were used to invest in the business. I believe that they were taken out of Alameda’s trading profits, which I believe were in the billions of dollars prior to 2022. I was not involved in the structuring of any of these loans. They were handled by inside and outside counsel.
   2. As a believer in the Effective Altruism movement, my primary goal has never been personal enrichment; I’m motivated by a commitment to help bring happiness and alleviate suffering for others. My personal charitable donations, which starting in 2014 when I was working on Wall Street, vastly outstrip what’s left in my bank account.
   3. I’m not sure that I’m going to be able to pay all of the legal fees I’m likely to rack up. And I’m not sure what to do about that. But for now, I’m mostly trying to divert whatever funds of mine I can find away from paying lawyers, and towards bringing value to FTX’s customers.

6. Various conspiracy theories involving myself, Ukraine, and the DNC

   1. Any theory that I conspired with the Government of Ukraine to do anything other than what I stated I was doing–creating pathways for contributions to Ukrainians and to their defense–is not just false, but deeply offensive.
   2. Any theories that a US political party was further involved in such a conspiracy are themselves categorically false and offensive.

7. Various claims that I created a hard-partying culture at FTX

   1. Our ‘parties’ were mostly dinner and board games
   2. I didn’t have my first drink until I was 21, and to my knowledge have never been drunk

8. Various claims that I am Jewish

   1. Ok, technically this claim is correct–my name is Samuel Benjamin Bankman-Fried and my ancestors mostly arrived at Ellis Island in the first half of the 20th century; I’ll leave it to the reader to guess why they came.
   2. But I don’t think I need to spell out the implications being made.

9. Various theories that I take Emsam for a high, or to treat Parkinson's disease

   1. The Emsam patch is essentially never indicated or prescribed for Parkinson’s. That theory is likely the result of lazy internet searches; Selegiline, Emsam’s underlying chemical, is sometimes used for Parkinson’s in oral form.
   2. I have a prescription for Emsam, and have for roughly a decade. I use it, daily, for its only on-label use as an antidepressant. It is not generally the case that people are expected to talk about their private medical conditions, but enough paparazzi have snapped photos of my belongings and theorized about it online that I guess I have no choice.
   3. The last few months have been difficult enough for everyone that it feels unremarkable to me, in comparison, that I need to put on the official Congressional Record that I am, and for most of my adult life have been, sad.

I have made many mistakes this year, but these are not among them.

The end!