Image source: Crypto Rus
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and CEO of crypto exchange FTX, has been through a series of ordeals in recent weeks.
On November 11, Bankman-Fried stepped down as CEO after initiating Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the District of Delaware.
Since then, rumors circulated that he fled after the FTX collapse.
Rumors
In the past few days, Crypto Twitter has been talking about a rumor of SBF (Sam Bankman-Fried) fleeing to Argentina.
According to the rumors, he ran when his cryptocurrency exchange collapsed.
However, a text message to Reuters on Saturday revealed that Bankman-Fried was still in the Bahamas.
The outlet asked him if the rumors were true, but he responded: “Nope.”
Read also: Sam Bankman-Fried suffers biggest loss in a day
Tracking the rumors
Over the weekend, users took to Twitter to speculate if Sam Bankman-Fried was on the run.
SBF filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy for FTX Group, including companies like FTX Trading, FTX US, and Alameda Research.
The rumor started when users tracked his private jet’s coordinates with ADS-B Exchange, a flight-tracking website.
The site suggested that Bankman-Fried’s Gulfstream G450 landed in Buenos Aires on a direct flight from Nassau, Bahamas, in early November 12.
Sam Bankman-Fried lives in a penthouse in Nassau with ten roommates, including Caroline Ellison, the CEO of Alameda Research.
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SBF
Sam Bankman-Fried was once considered the poster child for crypto’s exponential growth.
However, he is now at the center of the industry’s most prominent scandal.
In less than a week, FTX fell from grace as the largest crypto exchange with a $32 billion value to a bankrupt firm with an $8 billion hole in its balance sheets.
According to Bloomberg, Bankman-Fried’s net worth dropped from $16 billion to zero following the collapse of FTX.
In the past few years, FTX raised billions in venture capital with backers like:
- Lightspeed Venture Partners
- Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan
- Circle Internet Financial
- Coinbase Ventures
- Multicoin Capital
- Paul Tudor Jones
- Sequoia Capital
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