Disgraced FTX founder knocks down rumor he fled to Argentina in textual content message: ‘Nope’

On Friday, he resigned as CEO of FTX, the cryptocurrency alternate that imploded in spectacular vogue this week. FTX’s sudden downfall and chapter has eroded the already shaky confidence within the crypto sector and sparked renewed requires stronger rules within the house.

After his resignation, crypto watchers speculated that he fled to Argentina on a personal jet. However did he? Reuters reported on Saturday morning that it had requested him through textual content message whether or not he had, to which he replied, “Nope.” 

It then appeared he went as an alternative to the Bahamas, the place FTX relies. Bahamian police and regulators interviewed him on Saturday, in accordance Bloomberg, citing a “particular person aware of the matter.” 

The intrigue surrounding the crypto mogul’s location is notable given how open and accessible he appeared earlier than.

“You’d ship emails to the press staff at FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried himself would electronic mail you again. He was very approachable, very simply accessed,” stated Wall Avenue Journal reporter Caitlin Ostroff in a Friday episode of The Journal podcast.

However even just a few months in the past, Bankman-Fried appeared to waffle on a easy query about the place he lived, telling reporters in Zoom name: “I, uh, so, sorry, I—I’m hesitating as a result of I largely sleep on a bag…I reside, I don’t know. Technically I reside alone, however don’t sleep there. I largely sleep on couches and beanbags.”

He was requested in that decision concerning the boundaries between FTX and Alameda Analysis. FTX lent billions of {dollars} to Alameda Analysis, cash that was used to fund dangerous bets, based on reporting by CoinDesk after which the Wall Avenue Journal.

Billionaire Mark Cuban stated on Friday that Bankman-Fried ran FTX in a “dumb” manner: “So, what does Sam Bankman do? He simply, give me extra, give me extra, give me extra, so I’m gonna borrow cash, mortgage it to my affiliated firm, and hope and fake to myself that the FTT tokens which can be in there on my stability sheet are gonna maintain their worth.”

Bankman-Fried isn’t the one disgraced crypto mogul who’s made individuals guess about his whereabouts. Do Kwon, the co-founder of Terraform Labs in South Korea, has denied he’s on the run from authorities in his residence nation, the place he faces allegations of manipulating the value of the Terra stablecoin, which collapsed in Might. Korean prosecutors alleged in September that, regardless of his claims, he’s “clearly on the run.” 

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