Top FTX Victim Points at Influencers’ Roles as SBF Faces Trial

“FTX creditors,” appealed Sunil Kavuri on Twitter days after the ongoing trial of Sam Bankman-Fried started, adding: “never forget all the CT influencers that fawned over SBF, posted their FTX ref links, posted their fake screenshot P&Ls on FTX and never talked about FTX bankruptcy/creditors again.”

Kavuri lost about $2.1 million to FTX and has now become one of the vocal champions of FTX creditors. He describes himself as an FTX creditor activist for his newfound role and is now making rounds of media outlets to share his thoughts on the trial.

https://t.co/XNbcsr1KCk

— Sunil (FTX Creditor Champion) (@sunil_trades) October 8, 2023

“Sam Bankman-Fried has literally destroyed so many people’s lives,” said Kavuri, who is now receiving dozens of queries every day from fellow FTX creditors, told BBC. “One person in Turkey was left with only $600 (£490) in their bank account after losing everything, and one in Korea was hospitalized with panic attacks.”

Was a pleasure to join @AJEnglish today to provide my thoughts as the SBF trial commences pic.twitter.com/E1rsOiOaY7

— Sunil (FTX Creditor Champion) (@sunil_trades) October 3, 2023

A High-Profile Trial

The criminal trial of SBF started last week. The infamous figure, who founded and headed the crypto exchange FTX and was once seen as the ‘messiah’ of the industry, attended the court with a new haircut and in a suit and tie, unusual from his signature shorts and t-shirt look.

After opening statements, two people, a former FTX customer and a close friend of Bankman-Fried’s since college, testified in court today.https://t.co/5u3D9OJu9g

— Laura Shin (@laurashin) October 5, 2023

The trial is receiving significant media attention, from the crypto-specific ones and also mainstream finance. As the 12-member jury heard the opening arguments on Wednesday, the investors are keen on knowing the decision, as they are waiting for the settlement with the bankruptcy administration, which is unrelated to the trial.

The defense lawyers argued that SBF is a math nerd who overlooked risk management but did not steal from customers. However, prosecutors said the entire FTX empire was “built on lies.”

The Court Room Strategy

Some vocal legal minds on social media are also heavily coitizing SBF and the arguments of the defense. John Reed Stark, the President, John Reed Stark Consulting LLC and a former SEC employee, wrote: “SBF’s “Alameda was a market-maker” defense is absurd. Calling Alameda a “market-maker” is like calling a crooked airport baggage handler an airline pilot. Alameda was SBF’s personal, custom designed money laundering conduit. Period. End of story.”

SBF’s “Alameda was a market-maker” defense is absurd. Calling Alameda a “market-maker” is like calling a crooked airport baggage handler an airline pilot. Alameda was SBF’s personal, custom designed money laundering conduit. Period. End of story.

In case you have not heard,… pic.twitter.com/Hvq9EKSNCI

— John Reed Stark (@JohnReedStark) October 9, 2023

Stark also questioned the effectiveness of the defence strategy in light of some of the previous confessions of SBF about his fake image in public.

Not sure the “I’m a good guy, I just messed up,” defense is going to work for Sam Bankman-Fried. After all, SBF has already confessed in texts that his mantra of so-called effective altruism was all a “front,” even referring to his bogus philanthropic efforts as “this dumb game… https://t.co/G4u5h5gexH

— John Reed Stark (@JohnReedStark) October 4, 2023

Analyzing the defence’s strategy, Sam Enzer, partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel, said in a podcast: “The defense is trying to humanize Sam Bankman-Fried… [Obvious questions to the witnesses] corroborates that little fact and it takes some of the sting out of the bad testimony.”

FTX Victims Are Taking Stands

The first witness who took the stands was Marc-Antoine Julliard, a cocoa bean trader, who lost $100,000 as a customer with the FTX. He was under the impression that FTX had strong financials, especially because of celebrities and venture funds attached to the brand, and felt “extremely anxious” when he could not withdraw his funds from the platform. He further said that he did not know the platform borrowed his money.

FTX had an estimated customer base of more than 1 million. While most of the customers, or now victims, remain silent spectators of the trial, a few vocal ones took to social media to express their distaste for SBF.

“It affected my life,” Lee Rees, a London-based crypto trader who lost $100,000 to the collapsed exchange, told Reuters. “I had a life to pay for. It’s like your boss doesn’t pay you. You can’t live, can you?”

While FTX’s bankruptcy administration looks after the customers’ claims, Rees, who filed a claim, mentioned that “all these terms were so complicated,” adding: “You need a lawyer to understand it… We don’t know if we’re getting our money back or not.”

Maxime, who is from Belgium and had a “six-figure sum” on FTX, said: “I think there is a risk that there will be many victims who will find themselves victims again because of this procedure.”

Who All Are Responsible?

At its prime FTX was one of the top global cryptocurrency exchanges. It ran extensive campaigns and bought celebrity endorsements. SBF was also active in the US political circle. He was one of the top donners in President Joe Biden’s election campaign. Now, many are raising the US government’s the blind eye towards the lapses of FTX.

Why US politicians don’t act and restore FTX exchange ?

Now we have unequivocal confirmation that restarting the FTX exchange is an imperative matter of national security.@VP@POTUS@JusticeOIG@SECGov@GaryGensler @SenWarren @CFTC https://t.co/KbZHdiiLAo

— FTXRELOADED 🇮🇱 (@FTXRELOADED) October 7, 2023

American author Michael Lewis, who strategically launched his book on SBF ahead of the trial, revealed that the FTX founder was even considering to pay $5 billion to Donald Trump to stop him from running in the US presidential election.

Sam Bankman-Fried reportedly wanted to pay Donald Trump $5 billion to not run for President in 2024. pic.twitter.com/gbpptMUhqP

— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) October 2, 2023

The book, “Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon,” also revealed that met with the prime minister of the Bahamas to discuss paying off the country’s entire roughly $10 billion national debt. SBF ran the operations of FTX.com from the headquarters in the Bahamas with his so-called “inner circle.”

Meanwhile, other prominent Twitter accounts are also digging previous interviews of SBF when he made controversial statements about his business.

Nothing to see here.

Just Sam Bankman-Fried & Tether admitting to bank fraud prior to the collapse of FTX.

Don’t worry guys, this isn’t proof of anything. Sam Bankman-Fried is as innocent as a sleeping kitten on Sunday morning. pic.twitter.com/N15ACqwJBN

— Bitfinex’ed 🔥🐧 Κασσάνδρα 🏺 (@Bitfinexed) October 3, 2023

Upcoming Lawsuits?

It has been only one week, and the splinters from the SBF trial are already indicating upcoming lawsuits against other institutional lenders to FTX.

Garry Wang, the co-founder and former Chief Technology Officer of FTX, who also testified last week, told the jury that FTX” gave special privileges to Alameda Research to allow it to withdraw unlimited funds from FTX and lied about it.” He further revealed that FTC repaid lenders, including Genesis, with customers’ funds.

Still amazed how the FTX Estate settled with Genesis for $175m (after seeking $4bn) and is now hinting that they will try to claw back customers withdrawals.

All while Genesis loans were fully repaid with… FTX customer funds.

FTX users rugged by both Sam and JR3. https://t.co/A0Y7rq6FWt

— Googly (👀,🫡) (@0xG00gly) October 6, 2023

Matt Huang, the co-founder of Paradigm, also testified against SBF, telling the jury that his company wrote off the entire $278 million investment into FTX. Earlier, several other major venture capitals also confirmed that they wrote off the FTX investments.

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