Testimony from the new FTX CEO John J Ray III is false, says Sam Bankman-Fried

• SBF claims that some of the testimony made by John J Ray III were false.

• The former FTX CEO said the new team in charge didn’t communicate with him about the cryptocurrency exchange.

• SBF maintains that FTX is not a Ponzi Scheme.

John J Ray III’s testimony was false

Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the former CEO of FTX, told The Block, in an exclusive interview that the testimony from the new FTX boss is false. 

According to SBF, FTX CEO John J. Ray III has been icing him out since he took charge of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange. John J Ray III assumed leadership of the company after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month. SBF said;

“John Ray and his team do not communicate with me. They have not responded, and he has not responded to a single message I’ve sent him. His team does not, in general, work with me or, you know, care about what I have to say.”

While responding to a question about Ray and his team, SBF said Ray is making some false statements about him. The former FTX CEO said;

“There have been a lot of statements that have been made that have been put on legal record that I knew to be false. I don’t know if they were intentionally lying or if it was just an honest mistake because of people not consulting with anyone who knew where any of these records were. But there have been cases where, you know, it’s been said X, Y or Z did not exist. And I am staring at a copy of X, Y, Z, and none of my emails have been returned.”

Ray previously revealed that the cryptocurrency exchange was in the hands of “inexperienced, unsophisticated and potentially compromised individuals.” according to Ray, the company’s financial situation is the worst he has seen in his career. 

FTX is not a Ponzi

SBF stated that Ray’s claims about the lack of financial control in FTX were false. He added that FTX is not a Ponzi Scheme. SBF stated that;

“I would dispute the claim that there are zero financial controls. I completely agree that there were places in which there were very poor controls and that those places were critical and that that was really bad in terms of zero financial controls. I think it’s pretty hard if you try and take over a company and refuse to talk with anyone who was involved in running that company to, in a short period of time, know where any of the relevant data would be or where any of the relevant policies or procedures would be, or, you know, what books or records there were.”

His interview came a few hours after revealing that he would testify before the US Congress after reviewing FTX’s collapse.