Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO and Founding father of FTX, walks close to the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., September 15, 2022.
Graeme Sloan | Sipa by way of AP Pictures
Sam Bankman-Fried informed Reuters he’s nonetheless within the Bahamas, as rumors swirled in a single day that the disgraced ex-CEO of the now-bankrupt crypto trade FTX had run off to South America.
FlightRadar24 tweeted early Saturday morning that the one-time crypto billionaire was flying from Nassau to Argentina. The account cited tweets as its sourcing that it was Bankman-Fried aboard the flight in query. (Argentina has an extradition treaty with the U.S. and carried out an extradition as just lately as October, so it’s not an excellent vacation spot for somebody doubtlessly trying to evade authorities within the U.S.)
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Reuters requested Bankman-Fried whether or not he had flown to Argentina, and he replied, “Nope,” by textual content. He added that he remained within the Bahamas, which grew to become his full-time residence final 12 months.
Hypothesis over SBF’s (a nickname given to the previous FTX CEO) whereabouts come as authorities shut in on Bankman-Fried and his failed crypto empire.
On Thursday, Bankman-Fried tweeted that he can be winding down his buying and selling home, Alameda Analysis, after which on Friday, FTX — the digital asset trade that Bankman-Fried based in 2019 — filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety within the U.S. That very same day, Bankman-Fried stepped down as CEO. The Monetary Occasions is reporting {that a} day earlier than submitting for chapter safety, FTX’s world trade had $900 million in “simply sellable property” in opposition to $9 billion of liabilities.
It was a really swift fall from grace for FTX this week.
Earlier this 12 months, the trade was valued at $32 billion, and Bankman-Fried was billed as crypto’s white knight as he bailed out a number of digital asset firms. Now, its ex-CEO is reportedly dealing with probes by the Division of Justice, the Securities and Trade Fee, and the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee. In the meantime, the bankrupt trade seems to have been the goal of a hack in a single day.
— CNBC’s David Sucherman contributed to this report.
