Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX saga keeps getting weirder as new details shed further light on how much his company's finances overlapped.
Happy hump day to the smartest corner of the web. I'm Phil Rosen, writing to you from Los Angeles.
This morning I'm thinking about just how wild, deep, and strange the FTX drama has become.
More details are sure to emerge, but there's already enough fodder for a spectacular thriller novel on par with "The Big Short." In fact, Michael Lewis is already working on a book.
Today, I'm breaking down the latest and weirdest developments surrounding Sam Bankman-Fried and company — and also sharing details from a conversation I had with one FTX user who's been left in a six-figure hole.
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1. The SEC has alleged that Sam Bankman-Fried orchestrated a years-long fraud scheme. A closer scrutiny of court documents reveal an underlying theme of commingled funds, overlapping and mixed finances, and inexcusable, messy bookkeeping.
Bankman-Fried's entire enterprise — counting FTX, his hedge fund Alameda Research, as well as scores of smaller entities — were steeped in one another's funds.
It's hard to tell where one company's cash ended and another's began.
For example, earlier this year Bankman-Fried and FTX co-founder Gary Wang borrowed $546 million in promissory notes from Alameda to fund purchases of Robinhood stock, court documents showed.
Later, Alameda took out a loan and pledged those same shares as collateral, per CoinDesk.
Now, Bankman-Fried is stuck in a four-way legal battle for ownership of that nearly half-a-billion stake in Robinhood.
Then, consider a separate SEC complaint that alleged FTX customers were told to wire money to an obscure, fake electronics retailer with a website full of misspelled words and unusually priced items.
This subsidiary, North Dimension, played a key role in putting user's funds in the coffers of Alameda to use in trading.
The website, which has now been deactivated, would list a laptop or cell phone at a "sale" price of $899, compared to its "normal" price of $410.
Weird, right?
I certainly think so. But look at this: FTX execs reportedly hid $8 billion in liabilities in a customer account that Bankman-Fried referred to as "our Korean friend's account," according to CFTC prosecutors.
The whole notion of "where did the money go" seems to be getting more muddled by the day.
There's a chance that those who end up in the most financial pain will be everyday investors who, like some institutional investors, trusted their funds to FTX.
I spoke to a California-based father of three who lost access to $120,000 as FTX collapsed. Nauman, a 48-year-old software developer who asked to be identified by first name only, isn't holding out much hope to get his money back.
In a phone call, he told me he'd planned to use those funds for his childrens' college education.
A bear market is one thing, he said, because that's something you can stomach as a veteran investor. But when there's malice and thievery it becomes much harder to handle.
"If this turns out that Bankman-Fried is locked up in jail, and all the lenders and big creditors get taken care of, but retail customers get left empty, then that doesn't do much," Nauman told me.
"Everyday investors are the bottom of the barrel when it comes to pecking order, but there has to be some type of recourse for unsecured individuals."
Do you have a similar FTX story to share? Tweet me (@philrosenn) or email me (prosen@insider.com) to let me know.
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Curated by Phil Rosen in Los Angeles. Feedback or tips? Tweet @philrosenn or email prosen@insider.com
Edited by Jason Ma in Los Angeles and Hallam Bullock (@hallam_bullock) in London.