Crypto-billionaire-turned-alleged-felon Sam Bankman-Fried once floated another title for himself: President of the United States of America.
The FTX schemer is currently on trial for defrauding customers by committing wire fraud and money laundering, mismanaging billions of dollars in order to pay off his startup’s debts. On Tuesday, his ex-girlfriend and the former CEO of his failed hedge fund, Alameda Research, took the stand to not only disclose his criminal dealings but to shed light on the hubris of the most infamous name in Crypto at the moment.
According to Caroline Ellison, Bankman-Fried theorized he had a 5% chance of becoming president, a prediction that stunned his ex-girlfriend because the FTX founder had little political experience. Bankman-Fried was so interested in wading into the political arena that he even contemplated giving $5 billion to Donald Trump to ensure he wouldn’t make another run for office. Instead, he allegedly stole $100 million from customer accounts to make campaign donations during the 2022 Midterm Elections in an effort to gain political favor for his company.
Sam Bankman-Fried told Caroline Ellison that he had ambitions to be the President of the United States 🇺🇸
— Autism Capital 🧩 (@AutismCapital) October 10, 2023
Ellison has already pleaded guilty to helping Bankman-Fried defraud FTX customers but on Tuesday, she painted the picture of a bumbling math genius with an overinflated ego who thought he was too smart to get caught and too rich to not be in power.
Caroline Ellison is telling the prosecution that when she raised concerns with the fake balance sheets she was creating in the event of an audit, Sam basically told her auditors are stupid and won't even notice. 😂💀
— Autism Capital 🧩 (@AutismCapital) October 10, 2023
(Via Forbes)