FTX’s former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested by Bahamian authorities on Monday, after weeks of making public statements and apologising for his role in the collapse of the crypto exchange. Here’s why Sam Bankman-Fried’s apology is as hollow as his empire, and why it deserves as much value as the FTT token that once propped up his empire.
Apologies from tech chief executive officers are in vogue, as years of easy money and pandemic profits come to an end. “I got this wrong,” Mark Zuckerberg said after the Facebook billionaire’s pivot to a more Meta world decimated its stock price and led to 11,000 layoffs. Charismatic leaders are learning humility.
But in the league of weak-sauce apologies, the one from cryptocurrency exchange boss Sam Bankman-Fried stands head and shoulders above the rest. After his digital-asset empire FTX filed for bankruptcy on Friday, the onetime billionaire — who’s now lost it all — tweeted that he was “really sorry,” “shocked” at how things unraveled and “hopeful” that some kind of recovery was possible.
Let’s start with the hope. Judging by the scale and complexity of this bankruptcy — more than 130 entities with assets and liabilities in the tens of billions of dollars — customers have little reason to be hopeful. It will take time and money to sift through claims, with customers at the back of the line if the recent bankruptcy of Celsius is any guide. Martin Finnegan, a partner at Punter Southall, is skeptical of chances of recovery given legal fees and a likely lengthy process.
Then there’s the shock. To use that word is to pay homage to Captain Renault in Casablanca, who was “shocked, shocked” to uncover a gambling den — before being handed his winnings.
