Under siege crypto exchange FTX, which recently filed for bankruptcy, has laid off several Sam Bankman-Fried’s top delegates. There are nearly 300 employees at FTX, many of whom have been laid off in the past few weeks. Only a few are based on at the Bahamas headquarters.
According to the Wall Street Journal report, Caroline Ellison, Gary Vuongand Nishad Singh were terminated from their positions at FTX.
All three of them were fired after being appointed by FTX John J. Ray III as the company’s new CEO to oversee the bankruptcy, the report said.
Earlier, Ray said that Bankman-Fried used business cash from FTX Group to purchase homes and other personal properties for employees and consultants.
“Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of control of the company and complete lack of reliable financial information as has happened here,” Ray said.
Also read: Marathon Digital CEO Fred Thiel Says FTX Bankruptcy ‘Raised the Fear Factor’
Earlier last week, the FTX said in an emergency court filing that Bahamian regulators had ordered Bankman-Fried to get “unauthorized access” and acquire corporate digital assets after filing for bankruptcy.
Bankman-Fried’s public remarks pose a problem
Meanwhile, legal experts say Bankman-Fried’s comments on public platforms may have damaged his defense.
Bankman-Fried spoke to reporters and posted tweets regarding the collapse of FTX. However, legal experts have said that such public statements will likely make it more difficult for his defense attorneys to deal with the fallout from the exchange’s collapse.
A defense attorney at Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr said, “There is an old saying that a lawyer representing himself will deceive a client. The opposite is also true. An individual is the subject of an investigation. and tried to defend himself in the public court for lawyers a fool.”
Bankman-Fried’s statement was cited in FTX’s bankruptcy proceedings.
FTX is facing investigations from the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
A group of crypto investors also filed a class-action lawsuit against Bankman-Fried and others promoted FTX.
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