He wants to remain the owner of his image.
He wants to be able to control what is said about him, even if it means breaking his silence as he faces a series of criminal and civil charges that could land him up to 115 years in prison.
The former cryptocurrency trader does not follow the advice that many lawyers often give their celebrity clients: keep a low profile.
Bankman-Fried wants to express himself and seizes the opportunity as soon as it presents itself to paint a positive image of him.
After a media tour at the end of November / beginning of December to tell his version about the fall of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and its sister company Alameda Research, he has once again responded to the harsh criticism of his performance.
“Obviously I totally disagree”
in a rehearsalArthur Hayes, co-founder of cryptocurrency trading platform BitMEX, called Bankman-Fried a “fraud.”
“I will explore how the global perception of Pax America may begin to change after another pillar of Western financial exceptionalism, SBF/FTX, aided and unknowingly abetted by the Western financial and media establishment, robs the rest of the world (ROW ) blind,” Hayes wrote.
“I say the ROW because most of the individuals and entities affected are not American or Western European. It was the global east and global south that suffered the most from this fraud. And I will argue that the reason these countries let the fox in on roost once again was a misplaced trust due to centuries of social conditioning, which has historically resulted in little soy ‘whites’ like SBF being given an automatic seat at the proverbial table, no questions asked.” .
Bankman-Fried, known in the crypto space as SBF, did not appreciate this description.
“Obviously, I disagree with many of the specific FTX-related statements here,” the former crypto emperor responded on Jan. 6. “But I largely agree with your upper level point. It’s a variant of something I’ve heard over and over again oversees.”
He added: “I think you might be a little surprised by my perspective on it.”
To which Hayes said: “I’m listening. Please enlighten me…”
Bankman-Fried had not yet responded to the last check.
‘Why are you tweeting?’
Unsurprisingly, the comments to his post were largely negative, with many Twitter users asking him when he will return funds from FTX clients.
“How are you going to pay back the money you stole from everyone? You should probably include the interest as well,” said actor and producer Joel Heyman.
“This guy is going to jail for life and is still obsessed with what people think,” another Twitter user said.
“Why are you tweeting?” said one Twitter user.
On the same day, Bankman-Fried intervened in a discussion about venture capitalists.
“Someone just tried to tell me that VC is ‘uncorrelated to public markets’. I don’t think this person knows what measures of correlation are,” one Twitter user wrote on Jan. 6.
“However, the correlation of official brands of private companies can be 0 for a surprisingly long time,” SBF commented.
But the author of the post was not happy to have Bankman-Fried as a commentator.
“No, I don’t know why SBF responded to my tweet about VCs not understanding correlations, and I have muted that tweet…” he said.
“Honestly, there wasn’t much of a plan for the answer, I wouldn’t make too much of it (sorry, I guess you’ll have to mute this thread as well…),” the disgraced CEO replied.
The former cryptocurrency king had previously broken his silence to defend himself against a report that claimed Alameda’s wallets were activated days after he was released on bail.
“None of these are me. I am not and could not be moving any of those funds; I no longer have access to them,” she said at the time.
He added that: “I think it’s likely that various legitimate tranches of FTX have the ability to access these funds – hopefully that’s what’s happening here. If not, hopefully one will step in soon to do it. I’d be happy to help.” advise regulators on this if any would like.
SBF pleaded not guilty Jan. 3 to a series of criminal charges, including allegations of fraud, filed against it by the Justice Department during a hearing in US District Court in New York.
“Bankman-Fried was orchestrating a years-long massive fraud, siphoning billions of dollars of trading platform client funds for his own personal gain and to help grow his crypto empire,” the statement said. SECOND alleges in his civil suit.
The government has secured the cooperation of two SBF lieutenants: Zixiao (Gary) Wang, 29, a co-founder of FTX and a former CTO, and Caroline Ellison, 28, a former CEO of Alameda Research.
Both have pleaded guilty to multiple federal fraud charges and have agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
Bankman-Fried was extradited to the United States on December 21 by authorities in the Bahamas, where he lived and where FTX is headquartered.
He was released after his parents, both law professors at Stanford University, signed a $250 million acknowledgment bond pledging their California home as collateral. Two other friends with significant assets also signed, according to news reports.
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