Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) was planning to deliver congressional testimony before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday regarding his exchange’s fallout.
While his arrest by Bahamian regulators has put a wrench in those plans, a draft version of his prepared remarks has been made public. Here are the highlights:.
- Per the draft report provided by Forbes, Bankman-Fried claims to have been ghosted by John Ray – FTX’s new court-appointed CEO. He believes Ray and other law firms managing the bankruptcy (Sullivan and Cromwell) are attempting to extort as many fees as possible from the process.
- Bankman-Fried echoed previous claims that Ryne Miller – general counsel for FTX US and a former Sullivan and Cromwell partner – pressured him into filing FTX US for bankruptcy, despite it being “fully solvent”.
- “I have 19 pages of screenshots of Sullivan & Cromwell, Mr. Miller, and others I believe were influenced by them, all sent over a two-day period, pressuring me to quickly file for Chapter 11,” wrote SBF. “They range from adamant to mentally unbalanced.”
- The exchange founder also accused John Ray and the U.S. bankruptcy court of a form of racism against Bahamian regulators, whom he believes are being unduly criticized. “Their assumption, without evidence, of malign intent and incompetence on the part of other races, cultures, and governments would be considered deeply offensive if directed at American minorities,” he said.
- FTX lacked a risk management team. “While FTX International had a team dedicated to financials, and to many other areas of the business, it did not have a team dedicated to risk management, or to user position monitoring,” he said.
- He also doubled down on claims that Binance has orchestrated much of FTX’s troubles, including a month-long negative public relations campaign against the company.
- Bankman-Fried dispelled reports of hardcore partying and drug usage in the Bahamas. He has, in fact, never been drunk in his life, and has been using an antidepressant for the last decade. “I am, and for most of my adult life have been, sad,” he said.