Discredited FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried spoke out earlier this month about widespread speculation about whether he and other company executives engaged in polyamorous lifestyles.
Bankmen-Fried criticized media inquiries about her love life during a Nov. 16 phone call with cryptocurrency influencer Tiffany Fong — excerpts of which were first published Tuesday by Fong and prominent YouTuber Stephen “Coffeezilla” Findeisen.
“The problem is, at the end of the day, their metrics are clicks. That’s what they need to get at, and that’s fine, that’s what it is, but it means that a boring story won’t sell, and so they’ll try to ask me the most provocative questions possible. Bankman-Fried said.
“We, as a community, have, in my humble opinion, spent enough time trying to figure out whether or not everyone in Albany is polyamorous this week,” Bankman-Fried said. “I feel like I’ve answered that question a lot, and the answer is too boring for people to believe.”
The Post has reached out to Bankman-Fried for comment.
Speculation about Bankman-Fried’s romantic entanglements is closely linked to questions about the operations of the FTX in the days before its collapse. CoinDesk reported that Bankman-Fried was part of a “cabin of roommates” who ran FTX and its sister cryptocurrency trading firm Alameda Research from a luxury penthouse in the Bahamas.
CoinDesk reported that the roommates were “paired or used in romantic relationships with each other.” In particular, Bankman-Fried was romantically involved with Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of the now-defunct Alameda Research.
Bankman-Fried later confirmed that the two were dating, but said they were not currently in a relationship.
The report sparked widespread online rumors that FTX leaders were living in a “polikula,” or network of polygamous relationships. A recent Tumblr post allegedly written by Ellison described an “assault on a police officer.”
“When I first started doing poly, I thought of it as a radical break from my past,” Ellison allegedly wrote on her Tumblr. “But I’ve decided that the only acceptable style of poly is best characterized as something like ‘imperial Chinese harem.'”
Earlier this month, FTX’s former in-house performance coach, George Lerner, played down the situation, telling the New York Times that the doomed platform’s leaders were “if anything, less sexy.”
Fong said Bankman-Fried stalked him on Twitter for a while before FTX filed for bankruptcy. He sent Bankman-Fried a direct message on Twitter, asking if he wanted to discuss the situation that led to the phone call.
In audio from the call posted on Fong’s YouTube page on Nov. 16, Bankman-Fried said she agreed to speak with him because she felt he would approach the conversation “at least from a somewhat neutral and interesting standpoint.”
Fong admitted that he “redacted” parts of the phone call at Bankman-Fried’s request.
Bankman-Fried participated in the call the day Vox published a story detailing wild direct messages she exchanged with reporter Kelsey Piper. In that interview, Bankman-Fried blasted regulators and expressed regret for filing for bankruptcy.
The disgraced FTX founder made several other bold claims during his conversation with Fong, including an unconfirmed allegation that he made large “dark money” donations to Republican lawmakers during the midterm elections.
Bankman-Fried, the second-largest Democratic donor ahead of the midterm elections, said she kept her GOP donations under wraps to avoid media coverage.
“The reason was not due to regulatory reasons. Because if you donate to Republicans, reporters are scared, they’re all super liberal, and I didn’t want to fight like that,” Bankman-Fried said.
Bankman-Fried also claimed he was unaware of a so-called “backdoor” described in a Reuters report that alleged FTX co-founder Gary Wang created a system to allow secret changes to the company’s books.
“I don’t even know how to code, that’s the honest and embarrassing answer,” Bankman-Fried said.