Sam Bankman-Fried denies rumors that he fled to Argentina

Published at: Nov. 12, 2022

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has denied speculation that he’s fled to Argentina as the saga surrounding his collapsed cryptocurrency exchange continued to unfold in near-real time on Twitter. 

In a text message to Reuters on Nov. 12, Bankman-Fried, who also goes by SBF, said he was still in the Bahamas. When Reuters asked him specifically whether he had flown to Argentina, as the rumors suggest, he responded: “Nope.”

Users took to Twitter over the weekend to speculate whether SBF was on the run after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for FTX Group, which includes a slew of companies such as FTX Trading, FTX US and Alameda Research. The rumors started after users tracked the coordinates of his private jet using the flight tracking website ADS-B Exchange. The tracker suggested that SBF’s Gulfstream G450 had landed in Buenos Aires on a direct flight from Nassau, Bahamas in the early hours of Nov. 12.

The rumour is SBF on his way to Argentina.. pic.twitter.com/Jnxm3bprm9

— CoinMamba (@coinmamba) November 12, 2022

Bankman-Fried lives in a luxury penthouse in Nassau, Bahamas that’s reportedly shared by several roommates, including Caroline Ellison, the CEO of Alameda Research.

Just landed Sam Bankman-Fried @SBF_FTX Private Jet touches down in Buenos Aires Argentina LVKEB on the run #FTX pic.twitter.com/DD4Gy9nguk

— 0xMeTaNeeR (@0xMetaNeeR) November 12, 2022

Once considered to be the poster child for crypto’s exponential growth, SBF is now at the center of the industry’s biggest scandal. In less than a week, FTX went from one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges with a valuation of roughly $32 billion to a bankrupt firm with an $8 billion hole in its balance sheet. According to Bloomberg, SBF’s net worth plunged from $16 billion to zero after FTX’s collapse.

Related: Binance CEO CZ on FTX crash: “We’ve been set back a few years”

FTX raised billions in venture capital over the past few years, touting backers such as Lightspeed Management, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Circle Internet Financial, Coinbase Ventures, Multicoin Capital, Paul Tudor Jones and Sequoia Capital. 

Tags
Business
Sam Bankman-Fried
South America
Bankruptcy
Ftx
Related Posts
Sam Bankman-Fried updates investors: 'We got overconfident and careless,' claims $13B leverage
Former FTX chief executive officer Sam Bankman-Fried said he was “wrong” in his estimates of the crypto exchange’s leverage prior to its collapse, claiming it wasn’t $5 billion, but closer to $13 billion. In a Nov. 16 Twitter thread, Bankman-Fried said leverage at FTX built up to roughly $5 billion, backed by $20 billion in assets, which held value but also the potential for risk. According to the former CEO, the crypto market crash “with no bid side liquidity” alongside a bank run resulted in roughly $4 billion being withdrawn daily — 25% of consumer assets. “I was wrong,” said …
Business / Nov. 16, 2022
FTX will be the last giant to fall this cycle: Hedge fund co-founder
While the FTX crisis is continuing to unfold, the former head of risk at Credit Suisse believes the exchange's fall from grace should be the last catastrophic event — at least in this market cycle. CK Zheng, the former head of valuation risk at Credit Suisse and now co-founder of crypto hedge fund ZX Squared Capital said that FTX’s fall was part of a “deleveraging process” that began after the COVID-19 pandemic and further accelerated after the fall of Terra Luna Classic (LUNC), formerly Terra (LUNA). “When LUNA blew up a few months ago, I expected a huge amount of …
Business / Nov. 17, 2022
Bahamian securities regulator ordered the transfer of FTX’s digital assets
The Securities Commission of The Bahamas (SCB) said it had ordered the transfer of all digital assets of FTX Digital Markets (FDM) to a digital wallet owned by the commission on Nov. 12. In a Nov. 17 statement, the SCB said it exercised its power as a regulator acting under the authority of a Supreme Court order — moving the assets to a “digital wallet controlled by the Commission, for safekeeping.” Securities Commission of The Bahamas Assumes Control of Assets of FTX Digital Markets Ltd. pic.twitter.com/IzW4PGZSJm — Securities Commission of The Bahamas (@SCBgov_bs) November 18, 2022 SCB justified last week’s …
Blockchain / Nov. 18, 2022
Sam Bankman-Fried seeks to access FTX funds
Sam Bankman-Fried's legal team is seeking to remove a bail condition that prevented him from accessing FTX's funds, according to court filings from Jan. 28. A letter from Bankman-Fried's lawyer, Mark Cohen, to United States District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan stated that Bankman-Fried should have access to assets held by FTX, claiming the client was not involved in previous unauthorized transactions. FTX and FTX US have sought over $659 million in unauthorized transfers amid the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange in November 2022, according to Nansen data reported by Cointelegraph. Bankman-Fried denied any involvement in the transactions. As per the …
Business / Jan. 28, 2023
Sam Bankman-Fried lawyers reach agreement on use of messaging apps
Sam Bankman-Fried’s (SBF's) lawyers have reached an agreement with federal prosecutors concerning his use of messaging apps. According to a Feb. 6 court document, both parties have agreed SBF “shall not use any encrypted or ephemeral call of messaging application, including but not limited to Signal.” However, under the agreement, the former FTX CEO will be able to access FaceTime, Zoom, iMessage, SMS text, email and Facebook Messenger. He will also be allowed to use the encrypted messaging service WhatsApp but only if “monitoring technology is installed on his cellphone that automatically logs and preserves all WhatsApp communications.” The latest …
Regulation / Feb. 7, 2023