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Sam Bankman-Fried, the former chief executive of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has provided millions in hidden loans to crypto news publication The Block, the site revealed Friday, the latest revelation of how deep Bankman-Fried’s influence ran, which includes the institutions charged with holding Bankman-Fried accountable.
Sam Bankman-Fried testifying before Congress last December.
key facts
Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried’s personal trading firm, lent a total of $43 million to Block CEO Michael McCaffrey over the past two years, the site says, in deals that undermine the supposedly independent publication’s ability to report. about FTX.
The Block reports that the first $12 million went to McCaffrey to buy investors in the Block, the next $15 million went to day-to-day operations, and the remaining $16 million went to McCaffrey’s “purchase of personal real estate.” in the Bahamas, also home. to FTX headquarters and Bankman-Fried’s penthouse.
McCaffrey was the only Block employee who knew of the arrangement, according to statements from the firm’s managing editor Friday. frank chapparo and new CEO Bobby Moran.
Tangent
Bankman-Fried publicly funded several other media outlets, awarded millions of dollars in grants to investigative publications ProPublica and Intercept, made a grant of an undisclosed amount to Vox’s Future Perfect Program, and made an undisclosed investment in Semafor as part of of the news company’s inaugural initiative. funding round. The intercept said news week last week used just $500,000 of Bankman-Fried’s $4 million, while internal communications at ProPublica seen by news week claimed that ProPublica only used a third of its $5 million grant, with each outlet putting the remaining money on hold. Vox says the next project earmarked for the Bankman-Fried grant is also on pause. Semafor CEO Justin B. Smith said last week that Bankman-Fried does not actually own shares in the company, but instead bought what could later become an equity stake of less than 10%. Bankman-Fried’s investment in Semafor caught the eye of Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and the new owner and CEO of Twitter, last month after the outlet reported that Bankman-Fried had a previously undisclosed stake. On twitter. Musk denied the report and replied: “Semafor is owned by SBF. This is a massive conflict of interest in your reporting. Journalistic integrity is 🗑️”. Semafor has not responded to a request for comment.
key background
Once seen as the unassuming golden boy of cryptocurrency, public sentiment quickly turned against Bankman-Fried after FTX filed for bankruptcy last month following a series of unsavory and likely illegal business practices. Bankman-Fried also spent millions reaching out to policymakers, donating $39.9 million to Democratic causes this election cycle, as well as an undisclosed amount of “dark” contributions to Republicans, while her frequent meetings with federal financial regulators, even with the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission also drawing new scrutiny after FTX tanked.
crucial appointment
“He is literal scum. He kept us all in the dark”, Chapparo tweeted about McCaffrey on Friday, adding that Block employees were only briefed on the matter hours before.
Other reading
Exclusive: Crypto News Site Secretly Funded By SBF (Axios)
Sam Bankman-Fried, Elizabeth Holmes and 9 Other Epic Billionaire Explosions (Forbes)
Exclusive: Sam Bankman-Fried knew a lot about his Alameda research hedge fund and sent details to Forbes just a few months ago (Forbes)
How Sam Bankman-Fried sold the Bahamas an empty crypto dream (Forbes)ftk
