Sam Bankman-Fried accuses Changpeng Zhao of ‘targeted’ campaign against FTX

Sam Bankman-Fried accused Binance boss Changpeng “CZ” Zhao of running a lengthy campaign to destroy his crypto empire on Thursday, making another attempt to explain what led to FTX’s catastrophic bankruptcy.

In a lengthy Substack post, the disgraced former FTX CEO claimed that Zhao’s “life-changing tweet” on Nov. 6 ended “an extremely effective months-long PR campaign against FTX.”

“In November 2022, an extreme, rapid, and targeted crash instigated by the CEO of Binance rendered Alameda insolvent,” Bankman-Fried wrote.

The disgraced FTX founder’s business collapsed shortly after Zhao tweeted that Binance was relinquishing its position on its own FTX FTT digital token.

The tweet set off a domino effect that pushed cryptocurrency hedge fund Bankman-Fried Alameda Research into insolvency, and FTX filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11.

The Post reached out to Binance for additional comments.

The blog post was one of Bankman-Fried’s first public comments since he pleaded not guilty to eight federal fraud charges in connection with the Jan. 3 FTX crash. billions of dollars of customers that were used to fund his luxurious lifestyle and back his risky bets at Almeda.

Bankman-Fried and Zhao exchanged insults regularly after the downfall of FTX. In December Zhao immediately responded to complaints that his actions led to bankruptcy, tweeting that “FTX killed itself (and its users) because they stole billions of dollars from user funds.”

“No healthy business can be ruined by a tweet,” Zhao added.

Bankman-Freed repeated many of his other oft-repeated defenses in office and maintained his innocence of the fraud charges. The former FTX boss, who claimed to have the last $100,000 left, also denied having a secret cash stash.

“I didn’t steal money, and I certainly didn’t hide billions,” Bankman-Fried said. “Nearly all of my assets have been and still are being used to support FTX clients.”

Bankman-Fried was involved in a separate bankruptcy court battle with the feds and several creditors over a $460 million stake in Robinhood. Lawyers for Bankman-Fried argue that he must retain control of the stake in order to fund his legal defense.

“[I have] offered to transfer nearly all of my personal stakes in Robinhood to clients — or 100% if the Chapter 11 team honors my D&O legal fees,” he wrote.

Bankman-Fried’s post included several charts detailing his “assessments” of the financial situation at FTX and Alameda. He claimed that back in 2021, Alameda had a net asset value of $100 billion.

“All this suggests that no funds were stolen,” wrote Bankman-Fried. “Alameda lost money because of a market crash that she wasn’t properly insured against.”

Bankman-Fried is currently under house arrest at his parents’ California mansion. He faces up to 115 years in prison if found guilty on all counts.

Several former FTX and Alameda executives, including Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang, are cooperating with authorities in their case against Bankman-Fried.