Bankman-Fried admits meetings on Alameda’s finances prior to FTX collapse
Sam Bankman-Fried has admitted he had more knowledge of the financial health of FTX’s sister trading Alameda Research than previously suggested, as the extent of the ties between the two collapsed firms emerges.
Bankman-Fried, who founded both FTX and trading firm Alameda Research, said in an interview with the Financial Times that he deliberately distanced himself from the trading and risk management processes of Alameda firm to avoid a conflict of interest.
However, the 30 year-old added that he was actually present in conversations earlier this year in which bosses discussed the extent and size of Alameda’s borrowing.
“I do remember that there were some discussions around Alameda’s positions. I don’t remember numbers from those. I don’t remember numbers being said, I’m not sure they weren’t. I think Alameda did some recounting then, or some checking in on the health of its position,” he told the newspaper.
He added that his sense of the meeting was something like “people taking stock post-crash”.
The former billionaire is facing a string of investigations from regulators following the collapse of FTX on the 11th of November and reports that FTX had lent customer’s cash to Alameda to fund its bets on the sector.
Bankman-Fried said in a separate interview with the Wall Street Journal that he had no idea what had happened to cash after transferring it to Alameda.
“They were wired to Alameda, and…I can only speculate about what happened after that,” Mr. Bankman-Fried told the Journal.