Raising Equity from Saudi Crown Prince Among SBF’s Lofty Plans: Ellison

In her testimony against Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), former Alameda Research Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Caroline Ellison revealed that the 31-year-old planned to raise funds by selling FTX equity to Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, popularly referred to as MBS.

Witness Testimony Against SBF

SBF’s trial started last week and so far, some key members of the FTX team including Gary Wang and Adam Yedidia have testified against the former CEO of the defunct cryptocurrency exchange, stating the role he played in the implosion of the company. 

Bankman-Fried’s ex-girlfriend and business partner Ellison stood before the court today to declare that in 2022, she tried severally to discuss strategies to hedge Alameda’s investments with Bankman-Fried. Rather, Bankman-Fried had instructed her to create “alternative” balance sheets. His directive to her was to mislead Genesis lenders about the firm’s use of funds from the FTX Derivatives Exchange

It was during one of these discussions that Saudi’s MBS was revealed as a potential investor in FTX before the firm collapsed in 2022. Markedly, this potential investment was detailed in one of the pages of Ellison’s online journal titled “Things Sam is Freaking Out About.” In August, prosecutors hinted at plans to present the document during SBF’s October trial.

Noteworthy, Ellison’s claim about an investment from MBS is not a shock to the digital asset ecosystem, especially as he is known to support crypto-related firms. With his net worth counting billions, the Saudi Prince has plunged his funds into several blockchain games. His commitment to these crypto-based entities is all part of his scheme to transform Saudi Arabia’s economy into a global investment powerhouse.

SBF Planned to Buy Snapchat

Other actions noted in this journal include plans to buy Snapchat and turn regulators against leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance. It is worth noting that the fear of having Ellison expose all of this information may have contributed to SBF’s attempt to tamper with her personal diary a few months ago, a move prosecutors leveraged to keep him back in jail

So far, members of his legal team have made an attempt to get court approval to cross-examine Ellison and Wang but Judge Lewis Kaplan has emphatically denied the request.