Sam Bankman-Fried denies rumors that he fled to Argentina
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has denied speculation that he’s fled to Argentina as the saga surrounding his collapsed cryptocurrency exchange continued to unfold in near-real time on Twitter.
In a text message to Reuters on Nov. 12, Bankman-Fried, who also goes by SBF, said he was still in the Bahamas. When Reuters asked him specifically whether he had flown to Argentina, as the rumors suggest, he responded: “Nope.”
Users took to Twitter over the weekend to speculate whether SBF was on the run after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for FTX Group, which includes a slew of companies such as FTX Trading, FTX US and Alameda Research. The rumors started after users tracked the coordinates of his private jet using the flight tracking website ADS-B Exchange. The tracker suggested that SBF’s Gulfstream G450 had landed in Buenos Aires on a direct flight from Nassau, Bahamas in the early hours of Nov. 12.
The rumour is SBF on his way to Argentina.. pic.twitter.com/Jnxm3bprm9
Bankman-Fried lives in a luxury penthouse in Nassau that’s reportedly shared by several roommates, including Caroline Ellison, the CEO of Alameda Research.
Just landed Sam Bankman-Fried @SBF_FTX Private Jet touches down in Buenos Aires Argentina LVKEB on the run #FTX pic.twitter.com/DD4Gy9nguk
Once considered to be the poster child for crypto’s exponential growth, SBF is now at the center of the industry’s biggest scandal. In less than a week, FTX went from one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges with a valuation of roughly $32 billion to a bankrupt firm with an $8 billion hole in its balance sheet. According to Bloomberg, SBF’s net worth plunged from $16 billion to zero after FTX’s collapse.
Related: Binance CEO CZ on FTX crash: “We’ve been set back
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