- During an interview with The New York Times, Sam Bankman-Fried did not mention Caroline Ellison’s name.
- Ellison was the former CEO of Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund Alameda Research.
- Former CEO of FTX denied that he knowingly engaged in fraud with Alameda Research.
Sam Bankman Fried, the 30-year old founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, spoke about a wide range of subjects in his over an hour-long talk Interview at The New York Times DealBook summitWednesday
He didn’t mention Caroline Ellison, his former CEO of Alameda Research (hedge fund), which was closely linked to the implosion at FTX.
The relationship between the two companies — and Reports claim that Ellison and Bankman Fried lived together in a Bahamas penthouse. with other FTX and Alameda employees — came up during the interview.
Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times, asked Bankman-Fried a series of questions about FTX’s connections with Alameda. He also wanted to know if he had committed fraud through the “commingling” of funds. These allegations were denied by Bankman-Fried, and he did not mention Ellison.
Bankman-Fried claimed that “I didn’t knowingly mix funds.” “I was honestly surprised at how large Alameda was,” Bankman-Fried stated during the interview. This was due to another oversight and failure to appoint someone who would be in charge.
Sorkin asked Bankman-Fried if there was an $8 billion accounting error after bringing up the fact that Ellison reportedly told Alameda employees the hedge fund used FTX client money to cover its loans.
Sorkin questioned him at the end about his drug use. Ellison’s past tweetThat was “regular use of amphetamines.”
Bankman-Fried stated that he could not talk for anyone but himself, but he mentioned that he has been prescribed medication in order to focus.
This was Bankman-Fried’s first interview on video since the collapse of FTX. He has since made a series of media appearances, in which he repeated his apologies for mismanagement and oversights while denying he had committed fraud.
In his first interview with ABC News, he discussed the network.Bankman-Fried claimed on Thursday that he did not know of any “improper use” of customer funds, but that he was responsible to the downfalls of both companies.
During the ABC interview, he said that he wished he had taken more responsibility for understanding the details of the situation. “I should have been on top, and I feel really, really sorry that I wasn’t.”
He also revealed to ABC News that Ellison and him had had a past relationship, but that it had only lasted six month. Ellison has not commented publicly since leaving Alameda Research. Insider attempted to contact Ellison via Alameda Research for comment prior to publication, but did no immediate hear back.
New York Magazine interviewBankman-Fried stated that he did not know what had happened at Alameda in the past year.
Insider asked Bankman-Fried for comment prior to publication but they did not respond immediately.
