‘I didn’t try to commit fraud’: FTX boss denies moving personal money out of exchange before collapse
The former billionaire boss of the collapsed crypto exchange FTX has denied committing fraud.
Sam Bankman-Fried, once hailed as the ‘King of Crypto’ and estimated to have a net worth of £21billion, said: ‘I had $100,000 in my bank account the last time I checked.’
He denied moving personal money out of the exchange and said he did not deliberately mislead investors about the state of FTX prior to its collapse.
Denial: Sam Bankman-Fried denied moving personal money out of the exchange and said he did not deliberately mislead investors about the state of FTX prior to its collapse
‘I didn’t ever try to commit fraud,’ he told The New York Times, as thousands of people are left frozen out of savings.
He told US TV network ABC that the incident was ‘very different’ to Bernie Madoff’s 2008 Ponzi scheme which defrauded clients of £53billion.
Bankman-Fried stepped down as head of FTX on November 11 when withdrawals left it short of cash, leading to bankruptcy.
Allegations have swirled that he ran it as a ‘personal fiefdom’ while spending £250million on property.
Around 1m creditors face losses of billions of pounds, among them an estimated 80,000 Britons.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk