As the many external collateral damages of the FTX affair are slowly being revealed, an employee of the company has published a letter revealing details of the situation internally. Sam Bankman-Fried is said to have repeatedly convinced his employees to put their own savings into FTX: “Sam has ruined the lives of many current and former FTX employees”
Many FTX employees badly affected
In a letter shared on Twitter overnight, relayed notably by the serious Chinese reporter Wu Blockchain, an FTX employee spoke out about the affair currently affecting our ecosystem. He reveals the extent of the situation internally, including for many of the company’s employees, and details the recent actions of Sam Bankman-Fried.
A self-reported statement from an FTX employee, which we confirmed to be true. pic.twitter.com/sZVUoRc4H8
– Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) November 11, 2022
He begins his letter by saying, “Sam has ruined the lives of many current and former FTX employees. Indeed, he reveals how much faith FTX employees had in their boss: “they were all fighting for Sam before they found out what was going on on Twitter”.
According to him, Sam Bankman-Fried promoted – internally and externally – his own platform as “a trusted bank”. As a result, many employees would hold their entire savings on FTX, especially as “bonuses were regularly distributed in FTX.com shares and FTT tokens”.
In October 2021, when FTX acquired Binance’s shares, Sam Bankman-Fried offered his employees the opportunity to invest in the company for the first time ever. Specifically, he offered a 50% discount on the purchase of shares, up to $250,000. The deal was reportedly “highly acclaimed” internally.
The employee reports that Sam Bankman-Fried described it as “an opportunity to make a 100% net profit and a x4-5 in a few years”. These allegations were however refuted by another FTX employee, who explained that he had not heard of this speech.
However, according to the letter:
The majority of people invested more than they should have. Everyone believed in Sam. Many have now lost their life savings because they thought Sam and FTX were a safe bet and they believed it. “
Sam Bankman-Fried’s double-cross
The second part of the letter reveals more of Sam Bankman-Fried’s actions. At the beginning of the bear market, many companies announced that they were cutting some of their employees to ensure their survival. On the other hand, SBF claimed that FTX was continuing to recruit and was not experiencing difficulties.
Internally, the reality seemed to be quite different. The day after SBF gave a speech on CNBC to praise FTX’s good situation and promote ongoing recruitment, it proceeded to lay off some 20 employees. Here are the details put forward:
He more or less blamed the employees for not fitting into the [company] culture. “Not fitting in with the culture” was a recurring phrase [at Sam Bankman-Fried]. Employees who disagreed with Sam were quickly fired. “
For the record, as mentioned above, a second letter was published by another FTX employee to clarify the first. The parts being questioned by this second individual have not been mentioned in this article.
