• SkyBridge Capital Founder Anthony Scaramucci recounts his relationship with FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, sharing the story of their trip to the Bahamas as the crypto exchange began to unravel.
• In a “war room” at FTX, it became clear that a small group of people had committed fraud similar to Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.
• Scaramucci compared Bankman-Fried’s alleged financial crimes to those of Madoff, stressing that such crimes are often perpetrated by a few individuals who keep their schemes hidden from outsiders.
Introduction
SkyBridge Capital Founder Anthony Scaramucci recounted his experience in visiting former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried in the Bahamas during November 2020 when FTX began its collapse on Thursday during Consensus 2023. It was here that he stumbled upon a “war room” of FTX executives, where it became clear that a small group of people had done some [bad] things. He compared Bankman-Fried’s alleged financial crimes to those of infamous Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff.
Scaramucci’s Relationship with Bankman-Fried
Scaramucci served as a mentor and business partner to Bankman-Fried before FTX’s implosion, coordinating fundraising trips for him in North America and the Middle East. Additionally, FTX also purchased a 30% stake in SkyBridge Capital which deepened the ties between both firms’ founders.
Trip To The Bahamas
When CoinDesk revealed that FTX might be on shaky financial footing soon after, Scaramucci flew to the Bahamas to talk face-to-face with Bankman-Fried and instead walked into an unexpected “war room”. In this war room Scaramucci noticed how despondent everyone was and concluded that there was indeed fraud occurring similar to Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme as it is often hard for such large scale criminal activity to happen without multiple insiders being involved in hiding it from outsiders.
Financial Crime Comparison
Scaramucci compared Bankman-Fried’s alleged financial crimes to those of Madoff, noting how such frauds typically involve only a few individuals working together secretly. This was further evidenced by the war room discovered in the Bahamas which showed how much effort was going into keeping these activities away from public view until they were inevitably exposed by CoinDesk’s investigation.
Conclusion
In conclusion, although Scaramucci still maintains his respect for Bankman-Fried as an innovator and businessman he could not deny what happened at FTX or overlook potential financial crimes committed by some within its ranks even if they were not directly responsible himself. His trip to the Bahamas further strengthened this view when confronted with evidence suggesting something sinister had been happening behind closed doors for some time leading up its eventual collapse