Sam Bankman-Fried said there were “no wild parties” at FTX to Andrew Sorkin at the New York Times’ Deal Book Summit.
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images
Sam Bankman-Fried said FTX had “no wild parties,” at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit.
He said people would play board games at his parties and barely consumed any alcohol.
He told reporter Andrew Sorkin that he only drank half a glass of alcohol a year.
Sam Bankman-Fried pushed back on claims about drug and alcohol use at FTX saying there were “no wild parties” at the company.
Speaking to Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times’ Dealbook Summit in his first live interview since stepping down as FTX’s CEO, Bankman-Fried said that his “first sip of alcohol” was after his 21st birthday and he only had “half a glass of alcohol a year” after that.
“There were no wild parties here,” Bankman-Fried said. “When we had parties, we played board games and, you know, 20% of people would have three-quarters of a beer each or something like that. And you know, the rest of us would not drink anything.”
He clarified that he “didn’t see any illegal drug use” in the office and that his parties were just “having people over for dinner.”
While denying any illegal drug use, Bankman-Fried acknowledged that he took prescription medications, saying he has “been prescribed various things at various times to help with focus and concentration,” but these were all “totally on-label use of medications.”
“I think these have on the margin helped me focus a little bit. I wish I had been a lot more focused over the last year.”
Bankman-Fried had previously tweeted about using prescription drugs, saying in a 2019 tweet that he uses: “stimulants when you wake up, sleeping pills if you need them when you sleep.”
When Sorkin said that all the stories about FTX made it seem like “a bunch of kids who are on Adderall having a sleepover party,” Bankman-Fried admitted, “I screwed up.”
He said he was “responsible ultimately for doing the right things,” but “we messed up big.”
Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency companies, FTX and Alameda Research, declared chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this month. The 30-year-old lost 94% of his $16 billion fortune overnight and told Axios on Monday that he had $100,000 left in his account.
Coinbase reported that FTX was “run by a gang of kids in the Bahamas” who were all roommates and had dated each other. Former employees told Coinbase that Bankman-Fried lived with 10 of his inner circle in a penthouse, and they all were in romantic relationships with each other at some point.