Convicted FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Breaks Silence On ‘10 Myths’

Sam Bankman-Fried has once again taken to social media from prison, laying out what he describes as “10 myths” surrounding the collapse of crypto exchange FTX and his subsequent conviction. 

Media reports, he said, reinforced the message that the funds were gone. In his version of events, however, FTX was solvent and is now repaying customers between 119% and 143% of their claims. 

Bankman-Fried also rejected persistent rumors about a lavish corporate culture. Addressing allegations of “polycule orgies,” Bankman-Fried flatly denied that such conduct took place. 

On the events leading to FTX’s bankruptcy, Bankman-Fried pushed back against the narrative that he filed because he could not meet surging withdrawal demands. According to him, there were offers to cover the liquidity shortfall and stabilize the platform. 

He claimed that within three days, financing proposals were on the table and withdrawals had begun to resume, but that lawyers nonetheless proceeded with the bankruptcy filing.

Margin trading, he explained, involves customers — including Alameda Research — opting into lending and borrowing through a shared collateral pool. He asserted that most assets on the exchange were part of this lending program and that FTX had sufficient liquidity to cover assets outside of it.

Another key accusation he disputed was that he created a secret “backdoor” in FTX’s systems to siphon funds to Alameda. Bankman-Fried denied that such a mechanism existed, saying the account features in question had legitimate purposes and were not used to allow Alameda to borrow more from customers than it had lent.

Bankman-Fried also accused Judge Lewis Kaplan of restricting his ability to defend himself, including imposing a gag order, revoking his bail before trial, excluding evidence related to FTX’s solvency, and advice of counsel.

Regarding the revocation of his bail, Bankman-Fried maintained that it stemmed from his exercise of First Amendment rights and attempts to assist the bankruptcy debtors, rather than from witness intimidation. 

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com