The post FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried Grilled Over Past Tweets Amidst $1 Billion Customer Withdrawal Triggered By CZ’s Tweet appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News

In the ongoing trial, a single tweet from Binance CEO CZ seems to have shaken the foundations of FTX, as claimed by Sam Bankman-Fried. Bankman-Fried is under pressure, not only because of how FTX handled the money leaving, but also because of his old tweets about keeping customers safe. The court is now closely examining everything he said on social media in the past.

“SBF Was Trying To Help In Any Way He Could”

Today, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried began facing questions from federal prosecutors. Last Friday, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan decided that much of what Bankman-Fried wanted to say about FTX lawyers guiding his choices and actions couldn’t be shared with a jury.

In November 2022, when Binance’s chief Changpeng Zhao, commonly referred to as CZ, announced on Twitter his intent to divest Binance’s FTX token holdings, there was a significant surge in customers pulling out their money, according to Bankman-Fried. He noted that typically, the platform experienced daily deposits or withdrawals around $50 million. However, on November 6th, withdrawals reached approximately $1 billion. “It was alarming,” said Bankman-Fried.

When asked about how FTX responded to the increasing withdrawals, SBF said, “Caroline had sent out a tweet that we would be buying FTT at $22.” Probing further into the situation, Cohen inquired about the specific developments on November 7. SBF responded,

“Withdrawals surged. We saw $4 billion in net withdrawals on that day, which is about 100 times more than our average daily amount. It seemed we were on the brink of a liquidity crisis.”

Cohen mentioned a statement from SBF about FTX’s stability amidst circulating rumors. Just as SBF started hinting that Binance might have motives against them, AUSA Sassoon objected. Judge Kaplan agreed, removing that portion of SBF’s comment from official records.

Later, in discussing FTX’s assets, SBF assured that the exchange was in a sound financial state and that customer assets were always handled appropriately. SBF further confirmed that he was trying every possible way to heal that situation.

SBF Questioned Over Derogatory Comments About Customers

The US Assistant Attorney, Danielle Sassoon, highlighted on Monday that SBF had expressed his support for crypto regulation in a public tweet, stating customer protection as a condition. However, Sassoon questioned the sincerity of this stance, suggesting it might have been merely for public relations. Despite SBF’s denial, Sassoon brought up a past interaction he had with a journalist where he showed disdain for regulators and implied that his public advocacy was merely for image.

In another instance, SBF’s remark labeling some customers as “dumb m*therf**kers” was discussed. SBF clarified that this comment was directed towards a particular group of customers and not the general user base.

Bankman-Fried is currently undergoing trial for multiple fraud allegations connected to his crypto exchange’s downfall. He has declared his innocence.