Sam Bankman-Fried tries to explain himself

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Kelsey Piper
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After news broke that his cryptocurrency exchange had collapsed, with billions in customer deposits apparently gone. I didn’t expect him to respond — typically, people under investigation by both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice don’t return requests for comment....

After news broke that his cryptocurrency exchange had collapsed, with billions in customer deposits apparently gone. I didn’t expect him to respond — typically, people under investigation by both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice don’t return requests for comment.

Bankman-Fried, though, apparently wanted to talk. About how FTX and his hedge fund Alameda Research had gambled with customer money without, he claims, realizing that’s what they were doing. About who gets lauded as a hero and who’s the fall guy. About regulators. (“Fuck regulators.”) About what he regrets (“Chapter 11,” the decision to declare bankruptcy) and about what he would have done differently with FTX and Alameda (“more careful accounting + offboard Alameda from FTX once FTX could live on its own”).

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Ryan Peterson 2 months ago

The most amazing news article of my lifetime

Nicholas Thompson 2 months ago

This is truly amazing. And a good lesson for journalists: sometimes people who you don’t think will talk to you—or who have been told by lawyers not to talk to anyone—will still talk to you.

Bennett Tomlin 2 months ago

This article is a must read.