Temasek cuts salary of staff responsible for its failed FTX investment

Temasek, a Singaporean sovereign wealth fund that manages assets worth around $300 billion, has cut the pay of staff involved in its FTX investment that soured after the crypto exchange collapsed.

An independent team conducted an internal review of the investment and found that although there was no misconduct by its investment team, the team and senior management “took collective accountability and had their compensation reduced,” Temasek said Monday. It did not detail the amount of compensation cut.

Temasek had invested $275 million in FTX and FTX U.S. and wrote off all of its investments to zero after Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto group filed for bankruptcy in November. Temasek had taken a 1% stake in FTX International and a 1.5% stake in FTX U.S. as part of its investments.

Temasek said last year it had spent around eight months in an “extensive due diligence process on FTX” and is now said it is “disappointed” with the outcome of its investment and the “negative impact” on its reputation.

“With FTX, as alleged by prosecutors and as admitted by key executives at FTX and its affiliates, there was fraudulent conduct intentionally hidden from investors, including Temasek,” the sovereign fund said.

U.S. federal prosecutors have accused Bankman-Fried of using FTX customer funds to prop up his now-failed crypto trading firm Alameda Research. Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to all charges and awaits a trial in October. He could spend the rest of his life in jail if he is convicted.

Three members of Bankman-Fried’s inner circle — Nishad Singh, Gary Wang and Caroline Ellison — have already pleaded guilty and are expected to testify against him in court.

Disclaimer: The former CEO and majority shareholder of The Block has disclosed a series of loans from former FTX and Alameda founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

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