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Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has admitted he made mistakes as the leader of the company.
He said that it was not his intention, nor was he trying to cheat anyone.
The former FTX CEO recently appeared on video at the New York Times DealBook Summit in New York.
“There are things I would do anything to do over again,” said SBF.
“I was shocked by what happened this month.”
Collapse
In early November, Sam Bankman-Fried resigned as CEO of FTX after filing the company and dozens of its affiliates for bankruptcy.
Clients from all over the world are rushing to recover billions of funds they deposited on the platform.
Almost overnight, SBF’s multibillion-dollar personal wealth disappeared.
In addition, crypto companies with financial exposure to FTX are starting to fall asleep.
One of the questions surrounding SBF is whether the platform was stealing money from clients while lending money to his hedge fund, Alameda.
“I didn’t knowingly commingle funds,” SBF said.
“I was frankly surprised by how big Alameda’s position was.”
Failure
The cryptocurrency exchange platform experienced a run on banks in early November.
However, it quickly collapsed during a liquidity crunch.
“Look, I screwed up,” admitted SBF. “I was CEO of FTX… I had a responsibility.”
Sam Bankman-Fried acknowledged that FTX lacked corporate controls and risk management for the companies he oversaw.
In the bankruptcy filings, the new CEO for FTX described the matter as “a complete failure.”
“There was no other person who was chiefly in charge of positional risk of customers on FTX,” said Bankman-Fried.
“And that feels pretty embarrassing in retrospect.”
Read also: Sam Bankman-Fried says he donated to the Republican party
The companies
It is unclear how much FTX customers will recover while the company restructures.
Sam Bankman-Fried hinted that US and Japanese customers might be healthy, but he didn’t suggest how.
Additionally, his previous statements on the state of affairs will be reviewed in light of his lack of oversight.
At the start of the liquidity crunch, SBF tweeted that its FTX business was doing well and said it had enough to meet customer interest.
However, he deleted the tweet within a day and attempted to orchestrate a bailout that fell apart.
SBF’s admission that he had no oversight raised questions about his knowledge.
Investigations
Federal prosecutors are investigating FTX for the Southern District of New York following the company’s collapse.
According to a person familiar with the matter, Bahamian authorities are also investigating the company.
Financial regulators are working with the company’s new management.
The team is led by restructuring specialists who are walking FTX through bankruptcy.
Read also: Sam Bankman-Fried Faces Downfall with FTX Collapse
SBF
Sam Bankman-Fried’s appearance at the DealBook summit comes weeks after he issued a public apology.
Unfortunately, his apologies surprised the press.
During his interview on Wednesday, SBF was asked if his lawyers were encouraging him to speak up.
“They’re very much not,” he replied.
“And I mean, you know the classic advice, right? ‘Don’t say anything, you know, recede into a hole.'”
“I have a duty to explain what happened,” added SBF.
“I don’t see what good is accomplished by me just sitting locked in a room pretending the outside world doesn’t exist.”
The former FTX CEO was also asked about his personal fortune, estimated at $26 billion at his peak.
According to SBF, he had given everything to FTX and believes he only has $100,000 left in his bank account.
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