Unreachable? Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of the now-defunct FTX, is still meeting his social obligations. He will be speaking at the New York Times Dealbook Summit conference next week. A casual attitude which of course raises questions, as the FTX scandal is still ongoing, and the man has admitted to embezzling billions of dollars of customer funds.
Sam Bankman-Fried at Dealbook Summit
Most entrepreneurs who see their empires collapse and their creditors demand billions of dollars are pretty quiet. But not Sam Bankman-Fried. Like Do Kwon, the former FTX CEO seems oblivious to investor anger after the fall of Terra.
He has therefore maintained his scheduled speech at the Dealbook Summit conference, which will take place on 30 November in New York:
I’ll be speaking with @andrewrsorkin at the @dealbook summit next Wednesday (11/30). https://t.co/QocjPtCVvC
– SBF (@SBF_FTX) November 23, 2022
We imagine that he will speak by video conference, but nothing is certain as the ex-billionaire seems so casual. For his part, Andrew Sorkin, the journalist who will interview him, confirmed their interview, without specifying its nature:
A lot of folks have been asking if I would still be interviewing @SBF_FTX at the @nytimes @dealbook Summit on Nov 30…
The answer is yes. 👇
There are a lot of important questions to be asked and answered.
Nothing is off limits.
Looking forward to it… https://t.co/lShAqXLKGS
– Andrew Ross Sorkin (@andrewrsorkin) November 23, 2022
There are many important questions to be asked and answered. Nothing is off limits. “
An indecent interview according to the community
Sorkins is certainly getting a lot of publicity for the conference, which he co-founded. But this is not necessarily to the liking of the crypto community, which is outraged that Sam Bankman-Fried was invited. Especially since his presentation on the DealBook Twitter account is particularly positive:
Since Sam Bankman-Fried launched the company FTX, its executives and its philanthropic arm spent or pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in political and charitable contributions, consulting fees, investments in media outlets and real estate. https://t.co/3ad8otbYPd
– DealBook (@dealbook) November 23, 2022
“Since Sam Bankman-Fried started FTX, its executives and philanthropic arm have spent or pledged hundreds of millions of dollars on political and charitable contributions. “
The sentence is incomprehensible to some in the community, after SBF himself admitted that his charitable works were only a “front”. A point not missed by Elon Musk, who considers the presentation “one of the greatest failures of journalistic integrity in the United States in the 21st century”.
@elonmusk says NYTimes coverage (perhaps MSM coverage overall) of SBF is “one of the biggest failures in US journalistic integrity of the 21st century.” pic.twitter.com/zrY0AhOjDR
– Frank Chaparro (@fintechfrank) November 24, 2022
Recall that Sam Bankman-Fried admitted to using billions of dollars of client funds to bail out Alameda Research, the investment firm linked to FTX. At this stage, users of the exchange platform still have their assets frozen. SBF’s intervention at this conference therefore raises big questions, and is likely to be particularly closely watched.