Former FTX US President Brett Harrison has lashed out at Sam Bankman-Fried for manipulating and threatening colleagues who proposed options to reorganize FTX US’ administration construction.
Harrison shared his experiences with Bankman-Fried and FTX US on Dec. 14, explaining how he was employed “casually over textual content” in March 2021 after working collectively at New York-based buying and selling agency Jane Avenue for just a few years.
However six months into Harrison’s tenure at FTX US, “cracks started to kind” between the 2, he stated.
Regardless of recalling Bankman-Fried to be a “delicate and intellectually curious particular person” at first, Harrison stated he noticed “complete insecurity and intransigence” in Bankman-Fried when confronted with battle, notably when Harrison instructed FTX US set up separate branches for its govt, developer and authorized groups.
16/49 I noticed in that early battle his complete insecurity and intransigence when his selections had been questioned, his spitefulness, and the volatility of his temperament. I noticed he wasn’t who I remembered.
— Brett Harrison (@BrettHarrison88) January 14, 2023
Harrison added that he “wasn’t certain what accounted for the dramatic change” in Bankman-Fried’s erratic habits, although he suspected psychological well being points might have been a “contributing issue.”
A part of that irrational habits Harrison describes included a sequence of gaslighting and manipulation techniques Bankman-Fried used in opposition to Harrison and different colleagues of their bid to wash up FTX US’ company mess.
Harrison additionally recalled his final try to repair FTX US’ group points with Bankman-Fried, claiming that he threatened to “destroy my skilled repute” if a formally apology wasn’t acquired:
29/49 In response, I used to be threatened on Sam’s behalf that I’d be fired and that Sam would destroy my skilled repute. I used to be instructed to formally retract what I’d written and to ship an apology to Sam that had been drafted for me.
— Brett Harrison (@BrettHarrison88) January 14, 2023
Harrison stated that occasion “solidified” his choice to depart.
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As for the fraud fees now laid in opposition to Bankman-Fried and different FTX colleagues, Harrison stated he was blinded by the agency’s alleged commingling and misuse of billions of {dollars} of buyer funds:
“I by no means might have guessed that underlying these sorts of points — which I’d seen at different extra mature companies in my profession and believed to not be deadly to enterprise success — was multi-billion-dollar fraud.”
“If any one in every of us had suspected not to mention realized the reality, we might have reported them instantly,” he added.
Bankman-Fried was granted bail after posting a $250 million bond assure and pleading not responsible to all eight felony fees laid in opposition to him on Jan. 3.
Harrison stepped down as FTX US President on Sept. 27 — about 5 weeks earlier than FTX catastrophically collapsed — the place he said that he moved into an advisory function.
