Bankman-Fried is ‘delusional’ and should be jailed, Mike Novogratz says

Sam Bankman-Fried is culpable for what happened at FTX, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz says.

According to Novogratz, Bankman-Fried helped perpetuate a massive fraud that’s seen fresh contagion hit the crypto industry hard. And for this, the former FTX chief should be prosecuted and do jail time.

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As for what he thinks of Bankman-Fried and the whole catastrophic turn of events, Novogratz commented:

“It was delusional. Let’s be really clear – Sam is delusional about what happened and his culpability in it.”

He believes what should be happening is for SBF to be prosecuted, and go to jail. The crypto bull, who maintains a bullish outlook for Bitcoin and the crypto industry, added that Bankman-Fried did not perpetuate the FTX fraud alone.

He told CNBC:

“They perpetuated a large fraud, and it wasn’t just Sam. You don’t pull this off with one person. I’m hoping that the authorities get to the bottom of this faster – not just for the sanctity of crypto markets, but for all markets.”

Novogratz noted that FTX’s implosion had eroded the trust of the market and this can only lead to everyone else being questioned. Broken trust also means people will start looking for “black swans everywhere.”

Bankman-Fried is a “pathological liar”

The Galaxy chief’s remarks mirror those of ‘Mad Money’ host Jim Cramer, who on Thursday called Bankman-Fried a “pathological liar” and a con man. This is after the former FTX chief said in an interview at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit that he wasn’t trying to commit fraud.

According to Cramer, SBF admits to commingling user funds and not keeping records, which is clearly against the law. And his “nice guy” demeanour and “sorry” mean nothing.