
SBF erwägt, Gelder vom saudischen Kronprinzen zu beschaffen
- SBF plante, Kapital über eine Investition des saudischen Kronprinzen zu beschaffen.
- Ellison behauptete, Bankman-Fried habe seinen Auftritt als Medienstrategie genutzt, um sich als einfacher Krypto-Gründer zu verkaufen.
The prosecutor’s key witness, Caroline Ellison, endured an emotional moment in court on Wednesday as she recalled the final moments of the cryptocurrency empire she helped create, having testified for more than nine hours over the course of two days.
Der 28-jährige Ellison machte mehrere schockierende Ereignisse Offenbarungen über Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), ihren ehemaligen Chef und Flamme, während ihrer Aussage. Ellison sagte aus, dass Bankman-Fried seinen engsten Kreis dazu gedrängt habe, Verbrechen zu begehen, und seine Kunden angelogen habe. Sie fügte hinzu, dass SBF trotz ihrer Rolle als CEO von Alameda sowohl das Unternehmen als auch FTX aktiv leitete.
One of her shocking claims was Bankman-Fried’s plans to raise capital for FTX customers by receiving funds from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Ellison said the Saudi Crown Prince was a potential FTX investor before its collapse in November.
Several reports suggest that Bankman-Fried met with the Saudi Crown Prince in Saudi Arabia almost two weeks before FTX announced its bankruptcy. Some reports claimed that SBF planned to raise $1 billion for FTX. However, Saudi investors were prepared to part with about $250 million, which was the amount a judge demanded as Bankman-Fried’s bail following his detention in the US.
Prince Mohammed bin Salman is the billionaire prime minister and crown prince of Saudi Arabia. He has invested in blockchain gaming through the country’s sovereign wealth fund. But he remains a controversial figure for his alleged involvement in the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
SBF wollte einen Überfall auf Binance
Prince Mohammed’s potential investment was one of the details mentioned in Ellison’s online diary, which she called “Things Sam is Freaking Out About.” The former Alameda Research head testified that part of SBF’s obsession was “turning regulators against crypto exchange Binance.”
Laut Ellison ging Bankman-Fried von einer Razzia aus Binance was the best way to attract customers from the exchange and improve FTX’s market share. Ellison said SBF had claimed that a raid on Binance was something “regulators had been promising for a while, but it never happened.”
Interestingly, Binance emerged as a possible savior for FTX after news of the platform’s struggles emerged. However, Binance withdrew from the offer after concluding that FTX’s issues were “beyond our control or ability to help.”
Ellison also claimed in her Wednesday afternoon testimony that Bankman-Fried’s messy look was a deliberate PR tactic. She noted that SBF “believed his hair had been very valuable” and assumed that his hair had contributed to his bonuses from his early days as a trader at Jane Street.
Ellison believed her former boss tried to project an image of being a simple founder in the crypto world. Bankman-Fried allegedly tried to sell himself as a focused man who didn’t care about the lavish life of a wealthy businessman.
He told reporters that he drove a Toyota Corolla as proof he was unconcerned with an extravagant lifestyle. Ellison, however, claimed that the Corolla was an integral part of his media plan and that he didn’t begin using it until he had returned his more luxurious company vehicle.