“Shocking” is a word that aptly describes the rapid fall of Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency empire. To a surprising degree, it’s a sentiment that pours out from people who worked for him, people who you’d think would’ve had a clue.

How can that be? It may have something to do with a luxury penthouse in the Bahamas. That’s where 30-year-old Bankman-Fried is roommates with the inner circle who ran his now-struggling crypto exchange FTX and trading giant Alameda Research.

Many are former co-workers from quantitative trading firm Jane Street, others he met at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, his alma mater. All 10 are, or used to be, paired up in romantic relationships with each other. That includes Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, whose firm played a central role in the company’s collapse – and who, at times, has dated Bankman-Fried, according to people familiar with the matter.

CoinDesk spoke to several current and former FTX and Alameda employees who agreed to talk on the condition of anonymity, citing ongoing harassment and death threats due to the exchange’s solvency issues. And they said essentially this: It’s a place full of conflicts of interest, nepotism and lack of oversight.

“The whole operation was run by a gang of kids in the Bahamas,” a person familiar with the matter told CoinDesk on the condition of anonymity.

FTX and Alameda employees CoinDesk interviewed say they have been kept in the dark about the events of the past week, adding that only CEO Bankman-Fried’s inner circle may have had knowledge that the exchange, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, siphoned customer funds into corporate sibling Alameda.

“It’s been radio silence from Sam,” a second Bankman-Fried employee told CoinDesk on Wednesday. “When we saw the CZ [CEO Changpeng Zhao] tweet saying Binance was going to buy FTX, we honestly thought it was fake. But then Sam’s tweet just confirmed it.”

Bankman-Fried finally addressed employees later on Wednesday — a week after a CoinDesk article set the crisis in motion — writing, “I completely understand if you want to step away,” per an internal message to employees viewed by CoinDesk.

Among his nine housemates are FTX co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Gary Wang, FTX Director of Engineering Nishad Singh and Ellison of Alameda, Bankman-Fried’s trading business that’s at the center of the current chaos and on which the Wall Street Journal reported got $10 billion of FTX customer money. The remaining six are also FTX employees.

“Gary, Nishad and Sam control the code, the exchange’s matching engine and funds,” the first person familiar with the matter said. “If they moved them around or input their own numbers, I’m not sure who would notice.”

A third person familiar with how the company operated said: “They’ll do anything for each other.”

Bankman-Fried and Ellison did not respond to a request for comment sent directly to them. Wang and Singh could not be reached for comment. A spokesperson for FTX was also asked to pass on CoinDesk’s request for comment to Bankman-Fried, Ellison, Wang and Singh.

Bankman-Fried’s father, Stanford Law professor Joseph Bankman, also plays a role at the company. He appeared on an episode of the “FTX Podcast” in August, describing charity and regulation-related projects in which he was involved.

Wang, Singh and Ellison also comprise the board of Bankman-Fried’s FTX Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the company. Several housemates, including Bankman-Fried and Ellison, are active participants in effective altruism, a movement that “aims to find the best ways to help others,” possibly through philanthropy.

In the Bahamas, FTX and Alameda’s offices are also located steps apart in a coworking compound in the Bahamas that also housed Solana developers and other crypto incubation projects.

“All of the stakeholders would have a hard look at FTX governance,” tweeted Bankman-Fried on Thursday. “I will not be around if I’m not wanted.”

While some FTX employees have voiced approval for Bankman-Fried’s more frequent communication of late, others are not so consoled.

“Some employees kept their life savings on FTX,” the second anonymous employee told CoinDesk. “We trusted that everything was fine.”

So now can BBBUUUUU?

Errrrrr.........no

yes, if your wallet is too heavy and you need to reduce some digits in your bank account

So essentially the top managenent had orgies with customers and investors money everyday till it cannot sustain anymore

But investors praise them to the sky

got filter liao ok?

Bankman-Fried was born in 1992 on the campus of Stanford University into a family of academics. Born and raised to an upper-middle-class Jewish family in California, he is the son of Barbara Fried and Joseph Bankman, both professors at Stanford Law School.[2][20] His aunt Linda P. Fried is the current dean of Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.[21] His brother, Gabe Bankman-Fried, is a former Wall Street trader[22] and the director of the non-profit Guarding Against Pandemics.[23][24][25] He attended Canada/USA Mathcamp, a summer program for mathematically talented high-school students.[2] He attended high school at Crystal Springs Uplands School in Hillsborough, California.[26]

From 2010 to 2014, Bankman-Fried attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[2] There, he lived in a coeducational group house called Epsilon Theta.[2] In 2014, he graduated with a degree in physics and a minor in mathematics.[2][27][28]

oh hes a juice

Do more research.

His partner in crime gf who was CEO of Alameda Research also juice.

There is another partner in crime is Asian juice.

Why Lowyat got Like quota wan? I mao kasi like pun tak boleh.

i see satu like pun tak ada, lu jangan probok probok se7enn

So in other words.. all anak helang running a scam together?

cz knows what happen behind ftx and alameda
cuba baca first cz tweet after the fiasco
he said he dump ftt and it is like they are lover between binance to protect ftt and ftx.

that tweet ady makes me wonder cz ady knew what happen with ftx, sbf and alameda. kalau tak takkan cz nak dump?

CZ want to make FTX chaplap to eliminate competitor, otherwise he should have slowly sell the FTT token to reduce losses. The fact that he openly said wanna dump all FTT to the world is to cause a bank run for FTX. 

CZ want to make FTX chaplap to eliminate competitor, otherwise he should have slowly sell the FTT token to reduce losses. The fact that he openly said wanna dump all FTT to the world is to cause a bank run for FTX. 

Need to put on Augmented Reality goggles to keep the filter effect on when piap her?

You could have just do it during nighttime and turned off the light, and imagine her being jessica alba or megan fox. Works-every-single-time-bruh

Errrrrr.........no