BlocksInform
Brett Harrison, who resigned as president of the American branch of the FTX a few weeks prior to the implosion, finally broke the silence and put its relationship with the SBF in the spotlight.
He said he and none of the other FTX US executives were aware of the fraud committed by SBF and its closest partners in the Bahamas.
Didn't take more than a couple of months.
Harrison explained that he had known Sam Bankman-Fried since he was in Jane Street and that he had "good memories" of him. Harrison described the SBF as a "conscientious shopkeeper" as well as an "intellectually sensitive and curious person who cared about animals."
The SBF asked him to become president of the FTX US in March 2021, and the first months have been "wonderful." He said he worked on expanding the team and was “largely independently of Sam.”
Things started to change six months after he joined the firm as he wanted to establish FTX US as a separate brand and company from FTX.com. However, the sbf disagreed and did not respond well when asked.
16/49 I saw in this early conflict his total insecurity and intransigence when his decisions were called into question, his wickedness, and his instability of temperament. I realized he wasn’t who I remembered.
— Brett Harrison (@BrettHarrison88) January 14, 2023
Arguments between the two continued in the months that followed, and Harrison noted that Bankman-Fried frequently responded with "unsettled hostility, sometimes with gasification and manipulation." As a result, Harrison filed a formal written complaint about the organizational problems he saw in the company. But it didn't work out too well.
29/49 I was threatened in Sam's name that I would get fired and Sam would destroy my professional reputation. I was instructed to formally retract what I’d written and to deliver an apology to Sam that had been drafted for me.
— Brett Harrison (@BrettHarrison88) January 14, 2023
Exit and start a new crypto enterprise.
After this communication from SBF and his team, Harrison said he had made up his mind to leave, which took a couple of months to arrange. He finally left the exchange in September 2022, just a few weeks before the SBF-led empire crumbled.
The former FTX US President is reportedly preparing to launch a crypto software company, allowing traders to write different algorithms for their strategies.
SkyBridge Capital’s Anthony Scaramucci, who recently said he wants to repurchase the company stake he had sold to FTX last year, commented under Harrison’s threat that he will invest in the latter’s new start-up.
“Anthony has been a true mentor and friend to me since I joined the cryptography industry a couple of years ago. I am honoured to have him as an investment partner, and I know that his guidance will be invaluable as I embark on this new chapter." – Harrison made his statement to Bloomberg.
