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The former CEO of the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX says he did not "knowingly" misuse customers' funds, and the money belonging to millions of angry clients will eventually be refunded.
- FTX failed during the cryptocurrency version of a bank run
- Sam Bankman-Fried said he took responsibility for FTX's collapse
- He says he now has less than $100,000 to his name
The comments from Sam Bankman-Fried came during an interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin at a conference held by The New York Times.
Mr Bankman-Fried has given a handful of media interviews since FTX collapsed in mid-November, but Wednesday's was his first on video since the company filed for bankruptcy protection on November 11.
"I didn't ever want to commit fraud on anyone. I was shocked at what happened this month," Mr Bankman-Fried said.
FTX failed during a cryptocurrency version of a bank run, when customers tried to withdraw their assets all at once because of growing doubts about the financial strength of the company and its affiliated trading arm, Alameda Research.
Since then, FTX's new management has called the cryptocurrency exchange's management a "complete failure of corporate controls".
Mr Bankman-Fried said he took responsibility for FTX's collapse and he failed to grasp the amount of risk FTX and Alameda were taking on across both businesses.
Mr Bankman-Fried has been accused of, among other things, arranging for Alameda to use customers' assets in FTX to place bets in the market.
Mr Bankman-Fried told Sorkin he did not "knowingly" co-mingle customers' assets with Alameda.
Exchanges like FTX are supposed to segregate customers' deposits from any bets they place in the markets.
Other financial companies have gotten into legal hot water for misusing customers' deposits, one example being MF Global about 10 years ago.
"Whatever happened, why it happened, I had a duty to our stakeholders, our customers, our investors, the regulators of the world, to do right by them," Mr Bankman-Fried said.
Sorkin pushed Mr Bankman-Fried on how and when investors would get their money back, to which Mr Bankman-Fried said he largely believed the US affiliate of FTX was entirely solvent and could start processing withdrawals at once.
As for the rest of FTX, which was significantly larger than the US division, he said the fate of customers' funds were largely out of his control at this point.
Mr Bankman-Fried, who was once one of the richest people in the world on paper, now says he likely has less than $100,000 to his name after FTX's failure.
He says he is getting by on one credit card while still in the Bahamas.
AP