Mike Novogratz: Bankman-Fried is 'delusional' and headed to jail

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) has been lambasted this week following a series of controversial public appearances, with Galaxy Digital’s Mike Novogratz one of the latest to dish out a lashing to the former kingpin of crypto.

On Dec. 1, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz unleashed a tirade of criticism towards SBF concerning his interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times annual DealBook Summit on Nov. 30.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Novogratz characterized SBF as “delusional” following his declaration in the live interview that he never tried to commit fraud.

“It’s kind of surprising that his lawyers are letting him speak,” Novogratz said before adding “having watched two interviews, the word delusional kept coming to mind.”

The lambasting didn’t stop there with Novogratz echoing the sentiment from many prominent figures in the crypto community that jail time is necessary for the former FTX CEO.

“The reality is that Sam and his cohorts perpetuated a fraud. He stole money from people, people should go to jail.”

Galaxy Digital is among the victims of the FTX collapse having disclosed a $76.8 million exposure to the bankrupt firm.

The former FTX CEO also appears to be taking part in a spree of media appearances over the last few days.

During an interview on Good Morning America on Dec. 1, SBF insisted that FTX was not a “Ponzi scheme” but was “a real business” and denied knowledge of FTX customer deposits being used to pay Alameda’s creditors.

In a recent Twitter Spaces interview with IBC Group founder and CEO, Mario Nawfal, SBF again pleaded ignorance to what was occurring with his companies. When asked about what actually happened, his responses were very vague.

“I, you know, basically, and I should caveat this by saying that I, unfortunately, don’t have access to most of the data right now,” he said.

The reaction was equally vociferous with many suggesting that SBF was trying to paint a picture of his unfamiliarity and ignorance of what was going on.

Kraken co-founder Jesse Powell also called SBF out for misunderstanding how margin trading works.

SBF is completely full of shit about how margin trading works. He’s saying that the whole exchange operated on a net account equity model and anybody could borrow anything (in any amount?) from client funds or from nowhere. That’s not how it should work.https://t.co/3k7PkbAHVM

— Jesse Powell (@jespow) December 1, 2022

The creator of BitBoy Crypto, Ben Armstrong is understood to have arranged his own Twitter Spaces event with SBF, set for Dec. 3.

Meanwhile, the crypto community has roasted SBF this week over his incoherent responses and lack of accountability.

On Dec. 1, Reflexivity Research cofounder Will Clemente said the NYT interview was painful to watch, adding, “SBF is clearly talking straight out of his ass. Can’t give a straight answer or even look at the camera. He’s just digging himself a deeper hole …”