Sam Bankman-Fried repeatedly spread false or racist rumors about Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao before the collapse of FTX. This was stated by the exchange’s Chief Strategy Officer Patrick Hillmann.
A great read by @WilliamCohan at @PuckNews. One thing they missed, Sam was CONSTANTLY spreading fake rumors about @cz_binance, because shading him as an \”evil Chinese\” was critical to his scam. You can’t pretend to be Luke Skywalker without Darth Vader.https://t.co/oi9JxsqPyz
— Patrick Hillmann (@PRHillmann) April 20, 2023
Hillmann cited a piece in Puck magazine, where the story of the FTX collapse is told from the perspective of SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci.
One thing the authors missed was that Sam was constantly spreading false rumors about Zhao because portraying him as an ‘evil Chinese’ was crucial to the fraud. You can’t be Luke Skywalker without Darth Vader,” wrote the manager.
Scaramucci acquired a stake in SkyBridge Capital for $30 million, and the hedge fund bought $10 million worth of FTX’s FTT tokens, which have since become virtually worthless.
The partners were negotiating during a joint trip to the Middle East shortly before FTX’s troubles in November 2022. The exchange’s founder was seeking additional investments.
According to Scaramucci, during meetings with officials in Dubai, Bankman-Fried spread rumors about the head of Binance. A colleague who participated in those talks told the entrepreneur about this conduct that violated the company’s policy.
Scaramucci suggested that information about the former FTX CEO’s remarks reached Zhao and prompted him to sell $500 million of Binance’s FTT tokens.
Hillmann rejected his conclusion but confirmed that the company was aware of Bankman-Fried’s smear of its chief.
Sam denigrating CZ was the norm for us, @WilliamCohan. Had nothing to do with deciding to sell the worthless FTT on the company’s books.
— Patrick Hillmann (@PRHillmann) April 20, 2023
In December 2022 Zhao called Bankman-Fried ‘one of the greatest fraudsters in history’. He noted the founder of FTX’s effort to present him and others as ‘bad guys’, and to present himself as the hero.
According to Zhao, FTX paid $43 million to an unnamed media outlet for a negative piece about Binance.
In January, Scaramucci called his friendship with Bankman-Fried and called him a ‘traitor’.