As FTX implosion continues, in the latest revelation, it comes to light that the crypto news portal, The Block, had received three loans amounting to $43 million from Sam Bankman-Fried-owned Alameda Research.
Following the disclosure, The Block’s CEO Michael McCaffrey, who alone in the company knew about the loans, resigned, the portal said in a news report. McCaffrey will also step down from The Block’s board.
The three loans were $12 million, $15 million, and $16 million, and they were used to buy out other investors, fund day-to-day operations, and purchase real estate in the Bahamas, purportedly for the personal use of McCaffrey.
Bobby Moran who is the chief revenue officer at The Block will assume the role of CEO with immediate effect, The Block said in its report.
“No one at The Block had any knowledge of this financial arrangement besides Mike… From our own experience, we have seen no evidence that Mike ever sought to improperly influence the newsroom or research teams, particularly in their coverage of SBF, FTX and Alameda Research,” Moran said in a statement.
In a series of tweets announcing his stepping down as The Block’s CEO, on Friday, McCaffery detailed the circumstances that led him to seek and accept the loans from SBF’s Alameda Research.
“In early 2021, The Block was in a precarious place, and I was evaluating whether to sell, merge or restructure. The only option that materialized was to restructure when I was able to obtain a $12 million loan for my holding company from SBF in Feb of 2021,” he said in one of his tweets.
