Former engineer Aditya Baradwaj has made shocking claims about security lapses at Alameda Research, alleging that the company lost $190 million due to avoidable mistakes and lax security practices. One notable incident involved an Alameda trader who accidentally clicked on a malicious link while validating a decentralized finance transaction, resulting in a loss of over $100 million. Another incident saw Alameda suffer a $40 million setback from yield farming on an unverified blockchain platform. In the ongoing trial against Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the former founder of FTX crypto exchange, Caroline Ellison, the ex-CEO of Alameda Research and SBF’s former romantic partner, has provided testimonies that have revealed a series of astonishing stories and intrigues. Ellison admitted to a coordinated effort with SBF to keep Bitcoin’s price below $20,000 in order to attract investors and raise more funds. Another serious allegation against Bankman-Fried is the alleged payment of $100 million in bribes to Chinese officials to release $1 billion in funds from Alameda Research. Ellison testified about using the identities of “Thai Prostitutes” to try and extract frozen funds from a Chinese exchange. The discussions about making the payments became contentious, leading to an employee leaving the company. Ellison also mentioned that SBF contemplated soliciting funds from the Saudi Crown Prince to repay FTX customer accounts, although specific details are unknown. The testimony also revealed that SBF intentionally cultivated a disheveled nerd persona to appeal to investors and customers. Initially, both Ellison and SBF had luxury vehicles provided by the company, but SBF later decided to downgrade to a Toyota Corolla and assigned Ellison a Honda Civic to align with his image of frugality. Another revelation was that SBF and FTX focused on encouraging regulatory authorities to take action against Binance to boost FTX’s position in the market. However, the specifics of how they planned to achieve this were not disclosed. Overall, the trial has exposed massive losses at Alameda Research due to security lapses and has shed light on various questionable practices and strategies employed by SBF and FTX.
This News Article was automatically generated by Bob the Bot (AI)
This News Article was automatically generated by Bob the Bot (AI)
| Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Geography | Asia |
| Countries | 🇨🇳 |
| Sentiment | negative |
| Relevance Score | 1 |
| People | Handi, Sam Bankman-Fried, Caroline Ellison, Aditya Baradwaj |
| Companies | FTX, Google, OKex, Alameda Research, Binance |
| Currencies | FTX |
| Securities | None |
