According to Cointelegraph, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) claimed that spending customers' fiat deposits was merely part of Alameda Research's "risk management." During SBF's court testimony today, U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon for the Southern District of New York asked whether he believed it was acceptable to spend $8 billion in customer fiat funds. SBF responded, "I thought it was included in risk management. As CEO of Alameda, I cared about their portfolio. At FTX, I was paying attention, but not to the extent I should have."
SBF revealed that no one was ever fired during his tenure as CEO of both FTX and Alameda, despite allegations of misappropriating $8 billion in customer funds for speculative trading. He stated he was unfamiliar with certain specific employees. SBF also disclosed close ties with the Bahamian government. When Sassoon asked if he had given seats at the Miami FTX Stadium to the Prime Minister of the Bahamas and his wife, SBF replied, "I'm not sure—I think they did attend a game. I don't know the details." It has been alleged that SBF discussed helping repay the Bahamas' national debt with Prime Minister Philip Davis, which SBF denied, though he admitted assisting in securing a job for Davis's son.
