A group of Crypto Twitter influencers is getting together in the Bahamas to trace Sam Bankman-Fried, former chief executive of FTX. The bankrupt crypto derivative exchange has been headquartered in the Bahamas since September 2021, where it was using a luxury penthouse at the Albany Resort on the island of New Providence for its offices.
Now the neighborhood is swarmed by impromptu investigations on behalf of the distraught crypto community.
The “mission SBF” has a leader in Ben Armstrong, who is running a YouTube channel called Bitboy Crypto. He had posted a live stream while walking around the resort’s property and was turned away by security staff.
Armstrong surveyed the nearby locations on the island and posted a video claiming he was near a residence where the parents of SBF owned property.
More influencers are heading to the Bahamas to dig out information on FTX’s top brass. Gabriel Haines, a YouTuber who posted many viral rants about SBF and FTX during the meltdown, arranged $10,000 via crowdfunding to fly him and his family to the Bahamas.
Haines is not confident that he can find SBF but hopes his videos will provide some relief to a community that is suffering from the abrupt shuttering of the once-popular cryptocurrency exchange.
Meanwhile, lawyer John Deaton, XRP holders’ attorney in the SEC vs Ripple lawsuit said the FTX-BlockFi deal has sufficient grounds to jail SBF. He insisted the deal was a fraud as SBF insisted funds must be held on FTX and he later lent it out to his other company without taking any permission. This is theft, Deaton asserted.
Moreover, SBF used the same funds for further acquisitions and political donations. The XRP lawyer said the BlockFi deal is enough for claiming US jurisdiction and proving specific intent and sending SBF to jail. However, BlockFi has been looking to file for bankruptcy protection.